Andheri gas leak fire victim struggles with hospital bills

MUMBAI: A sudden burst of flames caused by a leaking gas pipeline in Andheri East on March 9 disrupted 22-year-old Arvind Kaithal’s life, leaving him incapacitated on a hospital bed, fighting uncertainties about his future. Mounting hospital bills are adding to the stress of not knowing whether he will still have a job left when he reports at his workplace – airport - where he was asked to rejoin on March 17 as a loader after being laid off for a while.

The Sunday evening on March 9 quickly turned his joy on getting re-employed into pain as he was caught up in the gas leak fire and ended up on a bed at National Burns Centre (NBC) in Airoli with 55% burns.

After helping his friend Aman Saroj, a delivery boy, wrap up his work fast to watch an India-New Zealand cricket match, they were going home after celebrating India’s win on a bike when a little after midnight, the sudden outbreak of fire near Sher-E-Punjab in Andheri East flung them on the road, the flames searing through their bodies.

Saroj, 22, who suffered 80% burns, succumbed to his injuries the next morning at the NBC, Airoli, where Kaithal is still undergoing treatment. His financially constrained family is now worried about how to foot the mounting bills. His father, a labourer, and mother, a homemaker, along with his three brothers who work as security executives and earn just about enough to sustain their respective families, do not know where or whom to turn to for financial aid.

“Our family is shattered emotionally and financially. We cannot bear to look at Saroj, who is in a lot of pain,” said Arun Kaithal, one of the brothers. “We are billed nearly ₹1 lakh every day in addition to the medicine costs. Even though the Tata Trust has covered most of our bills, which is a relief, there are still medicine bills to be paid.”

A few MLAs visited Kaithal in the hospital and promised to help. “But we only got bare minimum financial help,” said Arun. “So far, we have paid about ₹66,000 for the medicines and there are still hospital bills to be covered, which will keep adding up till the time he is discharged.”

On March 9, the Mumbai Fire Brigade got an alert at 1:35pm about a fire incident, which they later classified as a Level 1 (minor fire), where three people - one auto driver, one motorcyclist, and a pillion rider were injured.

Suresh Gupta, 52, the auto driver, took discharge against medical advice from Jogeshwari trauma care centre, where all the victims were taken for emergency treatment, as he had sustained only 20 percent of burns. However, Kaithal and Saroj where transferred to the NBC for further treatment.

“Both the patients were unstable at the time of arrival,” said Dr. Sunil Keswani, medical director at NBC. “Kaithal is now stable and out of the intensive care unit. However, we are still assessing the further treatments and surgeries that will be required.”

The fire incident is still under investigation. As per preliminary reports, the Mahanagar Gas Limited (MGL) pipeline leaked after the road contractor dug a trench for sewage-related work, a few meters from the road concretization work. “We have arrested the contractor who dug the trench. He also works for the BMC but we are still investigating if this particular pit was dug with due permissions or not,” said the investigating police officer.