KEM charges for ‘body’ balm, kin left penniless

KEM charges for ‘body’ balm, kin left penniless

Minutes after Satish Pawar, a construction labourer, was told that his wife Amita had succumbed to the severe burns, he was in for a bigger shock. The workers in the mortuary of the BMC-run KEM Hospital allegedly demanded Rs1,000 claiming that “treatment had to be done on the body”. “The workers claimed the money was to buy the ointment that had to be applied on the body’s burns. The naïve labourers fell for the trap and paid them,” said a junior doctor in the forensic department, who did not want to be named. On Monday, Amita, 20, a labourer from Hatkale village in Bhiwandi, was cooking on the stove, when it burst. She sustained severe burns and was taken to KEM Hospital, where she was declared dead. Sources at the hospital said that the mortuary workers allegedly demanded Rs1,000 from Satish and he paid them. But Satish and his three colleagues then did not have enough money to hire an ambulance to transport the body to their hometown in Yavatmal. They ran from pillar to post on Tuesday the evening seeking recourse from the hospital administration after they realised that they had been cheated by the staff. With no help forthcoming, they contacted the contractor at the Bhiwandi construction site, who arranged funds for the ambulance and the body was finally transported to Yavatmal to her parents’ place. However, officials at the BMC-run hospital denied the corruption allegations against the mortuary workers. “Any allegation of corruption is not true. I spoke with the deceased’s relatives and the issue has been settled. They are satisfied,” said Dr Sandhya Kamath, dean, KEM Hospital. When probed further, she refused further comment on the issue.