Snow turns fatal for kidney patient in Shimla

Kuldeep chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, January 11

The dark side of heavy snowfall reared its ugly head yesterday when a kidney patient lost his life en route to Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital here.

It was a nightmare for Rohit Dulta along with his sister and mother, who was on his way through the snow-blocked Bharari road to admit ailing father, Sohan Dulta, 66, to Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital here.

They struggled on the snow-laden road for two hours, but their battle turned futile. Sohan, a kidney and heart patient, collapsed midway in the snow and became the second victim after the new-born baby, who reportedly had succumbed to multi-organ failure at Kamla Nehru Hospital on Saturday following power outage.

As soon as his father complained of back and chest pain at home, Rohit contacted 108 Emergency Call Centre around 8 am yesterday. But the call centre responded saying that the ambulance could not ply on the Bharari road as it was blocked by snow.

With the help of two coolies and his friend, Rohit took his father to the road side around 8.10 am. They started pushing the car in the snow with the help of some pedestrians. They reached the Lakkar Bazaar road, covering about 5-km distance after almost two hours.

He spotted his friend’s car parked near the Auckland House tunnel and took his ailing father to the IGMC Emergency around 9.50 am almost after two hours. “Doctors promptly examined him, but declared him brought dead at 10.10 am,” recalled Rohit after performing the last rites of his father last evening.

The lonely private dialysis centre at Bharari was also shut due to water and electricity crisis since last Friday.

Sohan Dulta, who retired as a section officer from HP University, was on dialysis and visited the Bharari centre twice a week. “There is no other dialysis centre in the city. We had got a date for dialysis at a private dialysis centre in Solan. But we could take the patient there as the Bharari road had been blocked since Friday night due to snow and was not restored till Tuesday,” said family members.

IGMC director-cum-principal Dr Ashok Sharma said the IGMC provided emergency facility to kidney patients. “The patient had collapsed before he was brought to the IGMC as he suffered from pulmonary edema due to a delay in dialysis,” he added.

IGMC renal unit had just one nephrologist who was on winter vacation, while other one had been transferred to the government medical college, Tanda. Even private labs had no nephrologists and dialysis was done by technicians, which jeopardised the life of patients, said a senior doctor. The residents in Bharari expressed the outraged against the authorities which failed to restore the Bharari road evn for emergency service.