The condition of the car that was taking Saheli Roy (below) and two colleagues to work on Saturday morning after it was hit by a truck. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

Saheli Roy, 25, died on Saturday morning after the car taking her to work was hit by a truck on the Bypass. Her family and colleagues at the airline Deccan have raised questions about the manner in which police and the government hospital where she was taken acted that morning.

One, why did the police take her to NRS Hospital, six km from the accident spot, instead of to Apollo Gleneagles, which is a stone’s throw?

Two, why didn’t she receive treatment for two hours at NRS till she died?

Three, why didn’t the police and NRS release her when her family and Deccan representatives begged them to so that she could be taken to another hospital?

Metro went to the police and the hospital looking for answers.

Their versions follow.

Buddha’s police have answer

Why didn’t the police take Saheli to Apollo?

Purnendu Sinha, the sub-inspector from Phoolbagan police station on the night round at the time, apparently didn’t want to face a “barrage of questions” that the cops say they face when a patient is taken to a private hospital.

So he took Saheli, two of her injured colleagues and the driver of the car to a government hospital six km away.

One of Sinha’s senior officers at the police station said: “The accompanying officer has to face questions ranging from what is the address of the victim, who is the guardian to who would foot the bill.”

Sinha wouldn’t speak, apparently on orders from seniors.

Partha Sarathi Ghosh, the deputy commissioner of police (ESD), supported Sinha's decision. “I am no God to comment whether the girl would have survived if she was taken to one hospital instead of another. But the officer did nothing wrong. It makes perfect sense for a government officer to remove an injured to a government hospital,” he said.

So next time your daughter or son lies bleeding on the roads, expect Mr Ghosh’s police force to take them to a government hospital six or eight km away, rather than to a private hospital that is next door.

According to rules, the police have to take an accident victim to the nearest healthcare unit that has life-saving equipment.

Saheli’s death would change nothing — that is the assurance one gets from Mr Ghosh’s statement.

Still, it might be legitimate to ask if Sinha and his fellow policemen would have faced the “barrage of questions” from Apollo since Saheli, who was in Deccan ground-staff uniform, and her colleagues were all carrying their company identifications.

The IDs would have borne the answer to the question private hospitals ask: who will pay?

Deccan employees are insured with a private medical insurance company and can get treatment at private hospitals, including Apollo, Metro learns.

Why didn’t the police allow her to be taken out of NRS?

At the hospital’s police outpost, four police personnel were on duty, led by A.B. Mondal, assistant sub-inspector.

They arranged for “emergency requisition” slips for the four patients so that treatment could start without delay. But they faltered when Saheli’s relatives asked for the no-objection certificate to remove her.

Police sources said Mondal could have issued it himself. Instead, he called up Pradip Dam, the officer-in-charge of Entally police station and the officer on night duty, and it was only after they turned up that the permission to take the patients out was issued.

By that time, Saheli was dead.

Buddha’s hospital has answer

Why no treatment?

Saheli’s treatment sheet that is supposed to contain the recommended procedure and medicines or surgery, if any, is blank, said sources at NRS Medical College and Hospital.

L.K. Ghosh, the hospital’s medical superintendent, said: “She had suffered severe injuries in the spinal cord and head. There was internal haemorrhage in the brain and she was bleeding profusely from her nose and ears.”

Once she was wheeled into Emergency at 3.10am, there was no delay in sending her to the surgery department. The records show she taken to the surgery department at 3.15 while the admission formalities continued parallelly and were completed at 3.50.

At Emergency, the resident medical officers and senior surgeons on duty, R.N. Sarkar and Paran Tudu, examined Saheli along with junior doctors, put her on oxygen and admitted her into the surgery department. “Since her condition was critical, the doctors issued an emergency requisition and she was rushed to the surgery ward,” Ghosh said.

Saheli was admitted to Unit III — each unit comprises three teaching doctors and three to four juniors. D. Kundu, professor of surgery, heads Unit III, but he was not present at the time, nor was he called.

In his absence, the responsibility of treating her rested with Sarkar and Tudu. Other than the regulation oxygen and drip, Saheli received no other treatment. “It was not possible to perform surgery as her condition was very critical. For surgery she needed to be stabilised,” said Ghosh.

Saheli died, without care, before that “stability” arrived.

If it is such an open-and-shut case, as the hospital authorities suggest, then why go through the rigmarole of an inquiry that has been ordered?

Why wasn’t she released?

Saheli’s family wanted to shift her to Apollo Gleneagles Hospital but the NRS doctors refused to discharge her on a risk bond. “Her condition was so critical that she could have died on the way,” said Ghosh.

Critical-care experts feel that a chance could have been taken. “The spinal cord injury could have been managed by surgery. Whether the brain haemorrhage could have been stopped depends upon the extent of damage,” said a critical-care expert at Apollo.

Her father, Prabir Roy, who had said “at least we would have known we tried our best”, would forever be asking himself, “What if…”