Mumbai News: Accident Patient, Who Sustained Severe Head Injuries, Made To Wait For 24 Hrs Of Civic-run KEM Hospital

 In a replay of the recent incident where a toddler unable to get a hospital bed on time went into a coma, a patient was made to wait for 24 hours in the casualty ward of the civic-run King Edward Memorial Hospital in Parel. 23-year-old Kiran Chavan, a resident of Sindhudurg, met with an accident and sustained severe head injuries on June 14. He was immediately rushed to KEM hospital on the same day.

The issue came to light through a video posted on social media three days ago by an influencer, who calls herself Konkan Hearted Girl Ankita Prabhu-Walavalkar. She narrated the apathy of the hospital authorities towards a patient who was unable to get medical assistance at KEM, the biggest, civic-run hospital in Mumbai, for a whole day. 

Influencer says patient's kin requested help

“I got a call from the patient’s relatives requesting help, as no medical assistance was being provided. Considering the serious condition of the patient, I immediately called Ameya Khopkar, an MNS leader and film producer, who immediately intervened and visited KEM hospital questioning the administration for not treating the patient and asked why the patient’s family was asked to obtain a CT scan from outside,” she said.

Calls for filling vacanicies

Further, Ankita said, “It is not just a question of one of my patients. It is about the entire health system, which fails to provide treatment to patients in an emergency. We cannot blame doctors as they are already under pressure given the number of patients they see daily. The question is, why is the hospital administration not filling vacancies, taking serious note of this situation. Interestingly, after this video, relatives of many patients have come forward, saying ‘our patient is not being treated well’.”

Academic Dean says kin was asked to get CT scan outside hospital

Dr Harish Pathak, academic dean, KEM hospital, said, “The patient’s relatives were asked to get a CT scan outside the hospital, as the CT scan machine of the hospital is not functional because of a technical fault.”

However, this is not the first incident where a patient has been unable to get timely treatment in an emergency, at KEM hospital. Last week, a three-year-old boy who had suffered a head injury, was transferred from Bhabha Hospital, Bandra, to KEM, as he required a CT scan. Despite the resident medical officer at the hospital’s emergency ward being informed ahead of time, the toddler was not attended to for 12 hours and went into a coma.