PM in Chandigarh: Diversions by security personnel leads to patient's death

Prime minister Manmohan Singh’s security blanket caused the death of a kidney patient at the gates of the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGI) while the PM addressed a convocation inside.

Sumit Verma, 35, a kidney patient, was rushed from Ambala, 45 km away, after he developed a cardiac problem and needed urgent attention at the PGI emergency. But because of special security arrangements in view of the PM’s visit, his van was made to shuttle between PGI’s two main gates for over an hour and a half. The patient died before he could reach the emergency ward.

“We reached PGI when the prime minister had just arrived. The cops had sealed the road to the PGI emergency and we were told to use another gate. At the second gate, we were told to go to yet another place and from their directed back to the original gate. This delayed our reaching the hospital and Sumit died,” said a family member accompanying the patient.

A large number of other patients, too, faced problems as they were barred from entering PGI till the prime minister left. Inside the hospital, the prime minister lamented that health services in the country were far from satisfactory. He exhorted the research scholars to uphold the motto of “service to the poorest and research for the good of all”.

“You must always keep the wellbeing of the common man in mind and contribute to it,” the prime minister said. He regretted that the Centre was spending 1% of GDP on health care. “It has been our goal to raise it to 2-3%. Both, the central and state governments have to work hard to achieve this goal. Our progress has been much less than what we would have liked to achieve and are capable of achieving,” he said.

“A common perception among the public is that institutions running with public money end up as ivory towers. It is widely felt that the poor and underprivileged sections of our population do not have access to healthcare. The system needs structural reforms to improve the quality of services at the grassroots level. It has to be more sensitive to the needs of women and children,” he said.

The PM underlined that PGI’s mission would remain incomplete unless the interest of the common man is addressed effectively and purposefully. He exhorted them to strive hard till “the lives of the common people, be they in Tripura or the tribal areas of Chhattisgarh, are touched by your research and the most under privileged child in your
ward goes back home satisfied with your care.”