Mumbai: An ambulance carrying a critical patient with a severe brain injury was stuck for over 90 minutes on the Eastern Express Highway on Tuesday afternoon. Reason being the stretch saw bumper-to-bumper traffic after being blocked by hundreds of persons protesting Monday’s violence in Pune on the Bhima-Koregaon battle’s 200th anniversary.
The driver of Sai ambulance Ajit More told The Asian Age that though the patient inside was critical, there was no letting up of traffic to help the vehicle make its way to KEM Hospital, Parel. So much so that paramedics and attendants had to get off the ambulance to plead with the protesters to allow it to pass in view of the patient’s condition. Mr More alleged that there was no police presence and that the ambulance was able to move forward only after one-and-a-half hour.
The patient, Nilesh Jadhav (35), had accident in Thane on Monday after which he was admitted to a civic-run Thane hospital. Jadhav was in the process of being transferred to KEM Hospital Tuesday afternoon.
Mr More said, “It was a tough situation since Nilesh had started showing critical symptoms. I got down and asked for help from people. However, the traffic did not clear. Some good Samaritans got down from their cars and started assisting us. Despite all efforts, it took us one-and-a-half hour to reach KEM Hospital. There was no police on the road to assist us. We had to manage it all on our own.”
DCP Sachin Patil said, “Due to the protest, the road towards the Eastern Express Highway, JVLR Link Road and Chembur side was blocked. Many ambulances were stuck due to traffic but we managed to clear the traffic as soon as possible.”
