Rajasthan family carries patient to hospital on handcart; accuses docs, police of not helping

The family of a deceased asthma patient from Rajasthan's Kota have accused doctors of MBS hospital and the district police of negligence of duty.

Kota (Rajasthan):The family of an asthma patient put him on a handcart when the ambulance did not turn up but failed to save his life with policemen on the way to hospital and doctors there allegedly ignoring his plight.

Both police and medical authorities denied their alleged negligence which the family said led to the death of vegetable vendor Satish Agrawal, who lived in curfew-bound Faithagadi in Kota's Rampura area.

Agrawal was carried about halfway to MBS Hospital on the cart he used to sell vegetables before a private ambulance arrived.

His son Manish said when his father suffered an asthma attack at 11.30 AM the family made several calls for an ambulance.

"As none of the ambulance services responded, I put my father on his vegetable cart and started for the hospital over two and a half kilometres away from home," he said.

"Though policemen on the way removed barricades at various intersections on the curfew-bound road, none of them thought of helping us and rushing my father in a police vehicle to the hospital," Manish told reporters.

After Manish had covered over a kilometre till Nayapura circle on the way to MBS Hospital, he managed to hire a private ambulance, another relative said.

"Even at the hospital, we were made to run from one room to another and then to a makeshift clinic outside the hospital building before doctors eventually attended on him and declared him dead at 2.30 pm," he said.

MBS Hospital's medical superintendent Dr Naveen Saxena, however, refuted the allegation.

Satish Agrawal was brought to the hospital in a collapsed condition and a doctor immediately examined him in room 125 and declared him brought dead, he said.

Sometime later, the family members of the victim, however, said the patient's heart was still beating, following which Dr Lokesh Suwalka re-examined him and conducted an ECG, Dr Saxena said.

The medical staff did not delay the treatment, he asserted.

On the unavailability of an ambulance, he said the service is managed by the chief medical and health officer. The officer could not be contacted for comment.

Kota's Assistant Superintendent of Police Dilip Saini too rejected the family's allegation about policemen ignoring the plight of the patient being carted to a hospital on a handcart.

It is hypothetical to say that the policemen did not help. The policemen in the area did not have any vehicle or an ambulance, which could have been summoned only from a hospital or the ambulance service numbers 104 or 108, said Saini.

PTI Report