Sumit Verma, 35, a kidney patient, was rushed from Ambala, 45km away, after he developed a cardiac problem and needed urgent attention at the PGI emergency ward. But because of special security arrangements in view of the PM's visit, his van was made to shuttle between the two main gates of the PGI for over an hour and a half. Verma died before he could reach the emergency ward.
"We reached PGI when the prime minister had just arrived," said a family member. "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 there directed back to the original gate. This delayed our reaching the hospital and Sumit died."
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".
Now, Manmohan Singh has issued an apology to Verma's family, stating that he regrets the death caused by his visit and that he will ask his security detail to be more sensitive.
Is this enough? Isn't it time for the government to work out a way to ensure that politicians no longer disrupt the lives of common people, sometimes fatally?
