E.R. RAMACHANDRAN writes: On Octobner 28, 2007, the Chamundi Express from Mysore towards Bangalore left, like any other day, at 6:45 am, give or take a few minutes.
Being a Sunday, it was less crowded than usual, the passengers comprising mostly the middle-aged and elderly, and a small group of traders discussing the zooming Sensex.
After some time, a sense of ennui and sleepiness took over the train and shut out the vendors’ shouts of coffee and tea.
Just before the train reached Mandya, there was some commotion from passengers, two bogies away. Soon, the ticket collector came into our compartment enquiring whether there was a doctor on the train to attend to a passenger who had become unconscious.
As the train steamed into Mandya, some passengers informed the railway police who in turn asked the engine driver to hold the train. By that time, however, the whistle had been blown from the guard, and the driver started the train informing the police that Maddur was only 10 minutes away.
Meanwhile some of us rushed to the aid of the patient but we could not find his pulse. He had collapsed to the side from his sitting position. The man was in the fifties, probably going to work protected with a jerkin over a full sleeves shirt.
When all efforts to wake him up including sprinkling water failed, we started administering Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) by blowing in to his mouth after closing his nostrils. Even repeated, frantic efforts of CPR had no effect on him.
A stitch mark from the middle of his chest down suggested he might have undergone surgery in that region. Or maybe not.
Somebody fished out a tablet strip from his pocket and, as advised by a doctor who was giving instructions on the mobile, we pushed the medicine too.
Somebody took out a small book from his pocket with telephone numbers.
The 12-minute journey seemed to be the longest ever I had undertaken, and it ended as the train finally rolled in to Maddur.
People lifted the man and carried him to the stone bench at the station. Somebody carried his bag along. Even the most basic medical facilities was not available at Maddur Station, an important junction between Bangalore and Mysore, and the hometown, lest we forget, of the high priest of “hi-tech”, former chief minister S.M. Krishna.
Railway Minister Lalu Yadav never tires of lecturing all over the world how he was instrumental in turning around Indian railways that netted over Rs. 20,000 crore. And folks at Harvard and the IIMs can’t seem to tire of his efforts.
It took another 10 minutes to get a stretcher—a stinking dirty leather sheet with two wooden handles at either end.
Amidst the tearing hurry needed to save a life, life was proceeding at snail’s pace.
Finally, the man was carried over the rail bridge and our train left for Bangalore with passengers angry, silent and crying.
By that time the identity of the passenger was established.
He was a senior Section Engineer (Electrical) working at Railway Workshop in Mysore!
For one who had probably spent most of his working life on a train, the train did not stop for him when it mattered most. The TC felt terrible as the train was not stopped by his colleague and a crucial 10 minutes was lost.
We were left with the thought ‘what might have been’.
As we reached Chennapatna, the TC phoned Maddur and found out the rail passenger whom we had all accompanied from Mysore was brought there ‘dead on arrival’.
We all reached Bangalore without our co-passenger for whom the Final Station had come at Maddur itself.
***
The original headline for this piece was ‘Lalu Yadav can go fuck himself with all his crores’, which accounts for some of the comments.
Aiyoo…
It’s sad such a thing happened, but There’s no need to sensationalize these things or target the railway minister for an action taken by train conductor or the train driver. The simple answer would be to get the railway dept to compensate for the damages.
kadana kuthuhala,
is the matter so simple and straight? one has to blame the railway minister if the medical facilities in railways or trains are not proper. the bugger keeps boasting himself all the time that he turned the railways into a dreamland blah blah blah. if one looks into the business of railways, the truth of high earnings as claimed by him will be out. railways is not spending on the repair and maintenance at all. saving all the money that was supposed to be spent on repair, maintenance and rehabilitaion of rail network, this dirty bugger is claiming high income and going Harward, IIM and god knows where not!
It would be advisable to have a Railway Doctor in every train. Even if the railways charge Re.One per ticket it can do it. It can make use of the services of retired Doctors too. Whether somebody dies or falls ill, at least such facilities can go a long wayin helping the passengers. Life saving medicines should be available with doctors. Whether it is Lalu or Balu or Lal it doesn’t matter , the concerned citizens should come forward and make this as a Movement. Compensating a person’s family is different , thinking constuctively is another thing.
If a passerby on sidewalk collapses and someone calls 911, there will be response in minutes if not seconds. But Uncle Sam does not foot the bill. The bill is sent to the insurance company that has your insurance.
So each 911 call, from the eyes of emergency service provider is nothing but more dollars in billing. That is what makes 911 system ticking.
Given this you can understand where Ramachandran is making a mistake.
Stop trying to solve problems of India by using supply side economics. If you need health care pay for it. Do not ask the railways of maha bharathi to create yet another non functional supply side system to tend to yet another routine necessity. We have screwed up our sanitation, drinking water and electricity by supply side economics.
I am sure a system will get developed after commies get burnt by their own people.
Ramachandran, blaming Railways is not solution. What India needs is health insurance. With commies controlling the entry of efficient insurance providers to Indian market this is not currently happening. India’s mixed economy is to be blamed for all this. Laloo is just a symptom
A grossly inappropriate headline!
Come on guys, this was a freak accident. All the same we can ensure better medical facilities are available at most railway stations.
The only point i wanted to make was…Railways being a public sector undertaking is not a profit oriented organization….even if there are profits they should be put back into the system to make it more efficient and improve customer comfort…I hope at least this wakes the conscience of our Railway minister (I am assuming he has one!)
Its sad that our conscience as a country is touched only by death!
What is happening KP ? you are allowing words like f*** and Bu**** ??? One can empathize with the agony of seeing death at close quarters. But it happens all the time. You can be caught in a Traffic Jam in Bangalore with Ambulance blaring away but yet nothing happening. I am not sure a Doctor is on hand in a railway station any where else in the world.
Its sincere officials who got profit to the railway department. This bugger Lalu can claim that as a his work. He is a big political stunt master. Ho can he can think of security to the railway staff when he him self is ready to loot that money. He and his familiy is treating as railway as his own and do goondaism in railway. One can’t expect Lalu to do some good job. Its media which had become mouthpiece who made him hero. Bihar is ruled by this mady guy for 15 years and the state is like nigeria and any south african countries. Because Lalu has looted corers of money pais by centeral government for devalopment.
@pragmatic
Could you pl back up the argument with some data?
Thanks.
Thanks for various replies.Thanks for removing the **** word!
What’s needed in such situations?
Let’s take Mysore -bangalore Route.
Each time a train carries 1500 passengers one way. Both ways it is 3000 passengers.There are app. 10 trains whole day =30000 passengers a day.
Let’s take only the case of Rail Passengers. People who are not traveling(hopefully are closer to a doctor or a medical shop).Now the Railways can definitle provide in each junction:Sriranagapatna, Mandya, Maddur, chennapatna, Ramnagar.
Manpower 5 paramedics for these stations with one helper each. Railawy Hospitals themselves can train these people
1,A paramedic who can provide BASIC medical facilty till the patient is reached to a hospital such as oral rehydration therapy during summar which if delayed is certain death for children
2. Attend to unconscious passengers
3. Can do a timely CPR.
4.Can drive an ambulance to a hospital.
5. Can attend to normal medical requirement whenever called for.
In a country like ours where Manpower is no problem where there are organizations like Lions, Rotary etd, and hospitals to trian these assistants, Combined project can work wonders.
Any suggestions (+ ones, please), how we can initiate? Some of us are going on above lines to meet RLY. Div. Commissioner.I am sure we can make Railways think positively.They have introduced Ramps in lot of stations. Haven’t they? Plse give your solution. Let’s get something moving here. Shall we?
ERR,
Positive thinking.
But have you visited any of our villages. There are many without even a First aid box. What about them ? whom are you going to petition ? To use your phrase- In a country like ours where Manpower is no problem… how many doctors/ nurses are there who are ready to work even one day in a village ?
ERR, this incident is sad but Jeevarathna and others have made a very valid point. I read somewhere that even in big cities, there are not enough doctors, paramedics and associate staff members in government (and even private) hospitals. This can be easily verified from the state of such hospitals. In general not a lot of people want to get into such professions. That being the case, you can imagine how it could be in smaller towns let alone just for an organization like railways.
That being said, is it reasonable to expect the railways to leave aside its main work of running trains and involve itself too deeply in other services like catering or medical services. Even though it did, the results would be mixed at best. My personal preference is for a public private partnership where railways can tie up with local agencies/ doctors to carry out such work and passengers could be charged for that. The point about supply side economics makes sense here.
PPP is the way to go. Why not outsource some functions like the maintainance of the railway stations, ticketing, etc to private organizations? That way, the govt is getting away from something about which it does not have any expertise and also the job would be handled by some professional organizations which knows what it does ( and hopefully does things in a better way)
This again brings into picture the under-the-table dealings during the tenders..Corrcuption is the rootcause..private partnership and outsourcing some jobs to private players is the way ahead..
I concur with DB. What does this headline have to do with the incident? And why the surprise over a politician not keeping his promises? Move on, people.
In his five year stint as Railway Minister, full of stories of profit, turnaround, innovation and so on, Lalu has missed the opportunity to give a human face to the grand old Indian Railways. A “doctor on the train” for long distances would have been a step in this direction. Supply constraints can be addressed through “on call” services at bigger stations. The Apollo Hospital chairman, Prathap Reddy was pushing for a “hospital on wheels” to reach medical services to remote places and villages. I am sure he can come up with a workable business model to provide medical services on moving trains as well. In fact, medical services are already proposed for the “mother and child express” announced yesterday.