A bomb splinter-hit youth bled for over an hour on Monday morning, as he faced triple hurdles on his way to hospital.

First, bandh-weary rickshaw pullers refused to take him to Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) for treatment. When one among them agreed against five-time the usual fare, the tricycle was blocked twice on the way — for 15 minutes at Dinkar Roundabout and for another 10 minutes on Ashok Rajpath. (See graphic)

Fortunately, Ravi Kumar (23) is fine despite reaching the hospital an hour and fifteen minutes after suffering the injury. He was released from the emergency ward in the evening.

Sujata, a nurse who attended to Ravi at the PMCH, said: “The splinter had hit the youth in his right thigh and he was bleeding profusely when he reached the hospital. His condition could have been serious if more time was wasted on the way to the hospital.”

Ravi Kumar, an employee of a catering firm, was hit by a splinter inside one of the two bombs hurled by the killers of liquor trader Ashok Gupta.

For a few moments, Ravi could not react. He remained lying near Apsara hotel at Pirmuhani. After regaining composure, he called his friend Pintu Kumar from his cellphone. Pintu was near College of Commerce, around 3km from the spot, then.

Within 15 minutes, Pintu reached Pirmuhani to help out Ravi, bleeding profusely then. By that time, Ravi pleaded with the rickshawpullers in the vicinity to take him to the hospital. But they refused.

When Pintu again approached the rickshawpullers, one among them agreed to take them to the hospital for Rs 100.

The usual fare from Pirmuhani to PMCH — usually a 20-minute-ride — is Rs 20.

Ravi’s hospital journey started around 9.45pm But the ordeal of Ravi and Pintu did not end there. The bandh protagonists stopped their rickshaw twice, stretching the journey time by 25 minutes. Finally, they reached the PMCH at 10.30am.

After Ravi was wheeled into the emergency ward, Pintu said: “From Pirmuhani, one normally goes to the PMCH via Nala Road, Dinkar Roundabout, Govind Mitra Road and Ashok Rajpath. At Dinkar Roundabout, we were stranded for 15 minutes because the bandh supporters had blocked the road and were not giving passage to the autorickshaws and cycle rickshaws. On my request, the bandh supporters allowed us to go after some time.”

The rickshaw was also stopped at Ashok Rajpath for 10 minutes, added Pintu.

Ravi’s parents also faced hurdles on their way to the PMCH, as the movement of vehicles on Ashok Rajpath was thin because of the protest of the bandh supporters. It was extremely difficult for them to find a vehicle for going to the hospital.

Ramesh Kumar, a cousin of Ravi, took more than two hours to reach the hospital from the Patna City area. On a normal day, he would have travelled the distance in 30 minutes. He had to change autorickshaws thrice because the bandh protagonists demonstrated at different places.