Mumbai: Doctors and staffers mark attendance, unsure about future

MUMBAI: Uncertainty looms over hundreds of ESIC’s Marol hospital staffers. Since Monday’s blaze, doctors, nurses and other workers have marked their attendance, but many are worried about what lies ahead, and for how long will the hospital stay shut. On Wednesday, they were allowed to enter the building, which had been cordoned off after the fire.

“We don’t know what we are supposed to do now. There are no specific instructions from the authorities. We are just visiting the premises and marking attendance. We have heard the OPD on the ground floor can be started, but we fear that resuming while the building continues to be in a sorry state is yet another invitation to disaster,” said lab technician Vishal Kumar.

A few doctors and nurses said it’s time government agencies paid adequate attention to the hospital’s crumbling infrastructure, expertly hidden behind a glass façade.

On Wednesday, politicians once again visited the hospital and heard staffers’ issues. The visitors included Sena MP Chandrakant Khaire and leader of opposition in the legislative assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil.

A staffer, who didn’t wish to be named, said no concrete solution to the hospital’s problems seems to be on the horizon: “We will have to wait till we are informed on what next is to be done. We are afraid we could be shifted out. We won’t have any option but to go wherever we are sent.”