Patient dies as PM convoy comes in way
In yet another instance of official apathy and crass indifference, a patient suffering from renal failure died during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) on Tuesday.
The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has ordered a probe into the incident.
Manmohan Singh was at the institute to attend a convocation.
The family of the deceased (S P Verma) said he was denied timely medical treatment as securitymen allegedly kept diverting his vehicle.
Verma was a resident of Ambala in Haryana.
Full report sought
A PMO spokesman said it “is saddened” at the death of the patient at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research during the visit of the Prime Minister. “A full report has been asked for,” the spokesman added.
The family claimed that the security personnel, including those from the Chandigarh police, deployed at the institute, did not allow his vehicle to proceed to the emergency department and kept diverting it from place to place for about two hours.
“When we came near the Post Graduate Institute, he (Verma) was alive, but his condition deteriorated as we were given the runaround for two hours on the plea that the movement of other vehicles had been stopped in view of the movement of the prime minister’s convoy,” alleged a woman relative of the 40-year-old patient.
She said the patient was suffering from kidney ailment and was admitted to a private hospital here from where he was being taken to the PGIMER after he developed respiratory problems on Tuesday morning.
A senior PGIMER official said the patient was “brought dead” to the emergency. The institute was trying to ascertain the details of the incident, he said.
