‘The ambulance was just yards away...’

An elderly man died after suffering a seizure on the platform of Rajshahi Rail Station yesterday. With no ambulance available, transport to the hospital was impossible, which eventually led to the man's death, railway police said quoting doctors.

Abdul Kuddus (52) of Kustia eventually died after being taken to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital by an auto-rickshaw, Md Shah Kamal, officer-in-charge of Rajshahi General Railway Police, told this newspaper.

Abdul Kuddus had come to Rajshahi by the Kopotaksha Express intercity train for treatment. He had been suffering from heart conditions for over a year, police said quoting his relatives. He was accompanied by one of his sons, a daughter and another person from his village.

After getting down from the train around noon, he suffered a seizure while walking on the platform towards the station's gate. Soon people around him went away seeing him falling down, fearing that he had coronavirus, the OC said, quoting witnesses.

After police arrived on the spot in 15 minutes, they saw locals covered him with a shawl, suspecting that he had died, he said. "We tried calling for an ambulance of the Railway Hospital, but they refused to come, arguing that they cannot come during the pandemic," the OC said.

Police decided to call an auto-rickshaw. Railway police's Sub-inspector Biswajit accompanied Kuddus to the hospital.

Upon his arrival at the hospital, doctors sent him to cardiology department, hearing his history. Doctors treated and tried to recover him for some time before declaring him dead, said SI Biswajit.

"Doctors told us the delay to take him to the hospital may have been fatal," he said.

Contacted, the railway's divisional medical officer Dr SM Maruf Hasan denied allegations of refusing to send the ambulance. "I did not talk to police. A station official called me for the ambulance. We sent the ambulance immediately with a specialised doctor in it," he said.

But the patient was already transported before the ambulance could reach, he said.

Contacted again, the OC said, he called the assigned phone numbers for ambulance and they denied to carry the patient. "Some people at the station carried him to the auto-rickshaw," he said.

"The ambulance was just yards away from the patient. It was at Railway Hospital near the platform. If it had come at our first call, we could have transported the patient much earlier. Maybe his death could have been prevented," OC Shah Kamal said.

As the coronavirus pandemic continues, deaths like this keep piling up due to the nature of the infectious disease. Although they don't show up in the official tally, these deaths are no less tragic, and authorities concerned must work towards finding a solution to end this stalemate for medical patients, all involved said.