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Chairman of the JK group of companies, which owns the Smt Sunitadevi Singhania hospital in Thane, Vijaypat Singhania told rediff.com that his company was not sure whether it would be able to rebuild the hospital.
Sena activists, who went on a rampage following Thane district unit chief Anand Dighe's death of a heart attack, took out their anger on the hospital destroying equipment, furniture, attacking the staff and even patients.
"I saw them hurl a brand new scanner, which the hospital had acquired only few months ago, down the stairs," recalls a senior lady doctor.
Sophisticated medical equipment worth Rs 11.5 crores (Rs 115 million) was damaged beyond salvation. Total damages have been estimated at Rs 25 crores (Rs 250 million).
"We are already facing a resource crunch given the market situation. Where do we get the funds to rebuild the hospital from scratch again?" Singhania asked.
"Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray should share some responsibility and give us answers," he added.
Before it was vandalised, the ten-year-old 250-bed hospital was a beacon for residents of Thane, Bombay, Nashik and Raigad districts. If not for this hospital, patients from these places would have had to travel to far away Bombay during emergencies.
It boasted of state-of-the-art facilities and a well-trained staff.
Former Thane police commissioner Bhujangrao Mohite, whom the hospital's surgeons attended to after a near fatal accident which left two of his family members dead, likened the facilities to those available in 'the best five star hotel'.
In fact, Anand Dighe was admitted to its ICCU when he suffered a heart attack eight years ago.
However, Thane MP and Dighe protégé Prakash Paranjape was evasive on Singhania's demand that the Sena chief own responsibility for the damage.
"How can anyone sit in judgement on the spontaneous outpouring of grief by the sainiks?" Paranjape asked. "What happened was unfortunate," is all that he would admit.
However, people like Sugundabai Jadhav are yet to recover from the mob fury they witnessed and encountered.
A native of Latur, she was admitted to the Singhania hospital for her backache, which had worsened following the bus journey from Latur.
"She was looking forward to being freed from the traction equipment doctors had recommended for her and was hoping to get discharged by Tuesday," recalls her son Arun.
On Sunday night, when Dighe died, Sugundabai had forcibly sent Arun out for dinner.
However, on hearing the commotion downstairs, she panicked. She broke down while narrating the events of that night.
"I screamed when I first saw the stones landing near me. Later, when they began throwing burning bed sheets wrapped around pieces of broken furniture, I thought my end had come," Sugundabai said.
A nurse, who saw the flames licking her bedding, rushed to free her from the traction equipment.
"By that time, I had suffered burns on my left arm and back," she pointed out.
Instead of being at home to bid lord Ganpati farewell, she is being treated for first degree burns at the Dattatray polyclinic in Kalyan.
"Even in our village, people lose their heads and fight. But what is this madness?" she asked angrily. "In all my life, I have never seen anything like this.
Arun was caught in the melee outside. "The sainiks were beating up anyone they got their hands on," he remembers. However, his concern for his mother led him to risk his life to reach her.
When he finally managed to reach his mother's bed, he found it empty. "My mother is unfamiliar with Bombay and I was worried," he recounts. "What would I say to my brothers in Latur if anything happened to her?"
A ward boy then directed him to the third floor where his mother had been shifted along with other patients by the staff to keep them out of harm's way.
At the time of the incident, the 250-bed hospital had 212 patients five of who had been wheeled into the operation theatre for surgery.
Dr S Mahajan, the administrative in-charge who along with the team of dedicated staff members, even treated some of the sainiks injured by glass shards said it was a miracle that the death toll was not higher than three.
While one visitor and a staffer died of suffocation, Devesh Shah who was badly injured in an accident collapsed with a heart attack while trying to run for cover.
Mulund residents Jaya and Bhoopal Barot whose three-day-old daughter was undergoing treatment for respiratory problems managed to save their lives and limbs, but suffered irreparable psychological damage.
"I was only vaguely aware of the presence of some VIP seeing the security personnel in attendance," Bhoopal says.
The Barots were more concerned about their daughter. However, on seeing agitated sainiks on Sunday night, Bhoopal made inquiries with the watchman and was told of Dighe's demise.
He ran all the way back to be with his wife and daughter.
"We heard them breaking the glass at the entrance and feared they were going to ransack the hospital," he remembers.
"When the hospital staff said they had no security to deal with such a huge mob, I knew we had to move out anyhow."
Against the advice of other patients, family members and the staff, the Barots picked up their daughter and started for the front entrance.
"I wrapped my daughter in a shawl and held her close to my chest with one hand while holding my husband's hand with the other," Jaya said.
They came across a group of around 20 sainiks armed with iron rods and swords near the vandalised reception.
"They abused me and slapped me even as Jaya pleaded with them that we were just trying to save our baby," says Bhoopal. "After some discussion among themselves, we were allowed to go," he added.
The Barots have since shifted their daughter to a children's hospital in Parel.
They are glad that their daughter is too little to understand and thankful that she will not carry any trauma of what happened, which won't be the case with them.
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