Accident victim turned away by three hospitals

Police claim critically injured 14-year-old girl was denied treatment as her family had not been traced, say hospitals fear bills will not be settled in absence of kin

Police claim critically injured 14-year-old girl was denied treatment as her family had not been traced, say hospitals fear bills will not be settled in absence of kin

After an accident, a critically injured 14-year-old girl was turned away by three hospitals near Lonavla, including two government-run hospitals, forcing the police to take her all the way to Sassoon General Hospital in the city.


Hospital-hopping: Chaitraly Wanjale at Sassoon. Pic/Jignesh Mistry

In the process, four precious hours had elapsed before the girl, Chaitraly Tanaji Wanjale, finally began receiving treatment. She is now fighting for her life in Sassoon.

The police claim hospitals are turning increasingly "hostile" towards accident victims who are not accompanied by relatives, as they fear the treatment bills will remain unpaid if no member of the family is present.

Wanjale, who is undergoing treatment at Ward No. 18 in Sassoon, is now said to be "critically stable". She was seriously injured in an accident on Thursday at Karle Phata near Lonavla on the Pune-Mumbai highway (NH-4); an unknown vehicle rammed into the tempo which was carrying her and her elder sister Rupali, who died on the spot.

The investigative officer in the case, Police Sub-Inspector G R Ugale from the Lonavla rural police station, said the first two hospitals Wanjale was taken to were hesitant to treat her after knowing that her identity was yet to be ascertained.

"Chaitraly Wanjale was first taken to Parmar Hospital, then to Talegaon General Hospital, and later to Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital. The first two said they didn't have sufficient facilities, but it seemed to us that they were reluctant to treat the victim as she was not accompanied by her relatives," he said. "Was it not the responsibility of the doctors to first start the treatment?"

Ugale said even after Wanjale was taken to Sassoon, the police had to wait for her relatives to arrive.
"Four hours later, we finally shifted her to Sassoon Hospital for treatment. The head constable accompanying her had to wait another hour till the victim's relatives reached the hospital. Even after knowing that the victim was critical, the hospital only administered primary treatment," Ugale said. "I raised this issue with people from the hospital, but they were only concerned about knowing whether we had traced her relatives."

Ugale said the police were increasingly encountering such behaviour at hospitals when accident victims were brought in without their relatives. "We suspect the hospitals fear that if there are no relatives, the monetary settlement will not happen," he said.

The Other Side
When MiD DAY contacted Chief Medical Officer Dr Pramod Pathre of YCM hospital, he said, "We didn't have free beds to admit the patient, so we asked the police to shift the girl to Sassoon hospital." Dr S C Parmar from Parmar hospital declined to comment on the issue, saying he was unaware of the incident. "I will enquire about this case and then only comment about it," said Parmar. Authorities at the Talegaon General Hospital were not immediately available for comment.