The Bombay high court on Thursday rapped the railways for not having proper emergency medical services in place at various stations across the suburban railway network.
The Bombay high court on Thursday rapped the railways for not having proper emergency medical services in place at various stations across the suburban railway network.
A division bench of Justices Abhay Oka and AK Menon expressed displeasure after going through the reports of surprise visits made by court commissioners at various railway stations.
They stated that several stations like CST and Lower Parel did not have the ambulance service. Also, the emergency ambulance supposed to be posted outside Mahalaxmi railway station was found at the Nagpada police station. Further, doctors and drivers were also found missing in the ambulances.
The bench ruled: "Don't take this as adversarial litigation; there is no reason to disbelief the reports filed. However, you (government) are defending the authorities; we are shocked to see this."
The court has now scheduled the next hearing for March 5, and has asked for the contracts between the government and the ambulance providers.
Additionally, the court directed the railways to indicate an outer limit as to when emergency medical centres would be set up at suburban railway stations, where over 100 deaths have occurred in the last year. The HC also directed railways to consider giving power to station masters to move accident victims without the permission of policemen.
While stating that this was a serious issue, the court called the Advocate General and the Additional Solicitor General to appear in the matter.
The direction was given during the hearing of a PIL filed by activist Sameer Zaveri, raising the issue of safety of suburban railway passengers. The railway administration came out with a proposal to make Dadar station a model, with regards to providing emergency medical services and set up a medical centre at the terminus.
However, the administration later took a stand that the medical centre remained almost un-utilised and therefore, it was not feasible to set up such centres at other suburban stations.
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