108 service blamed for woman’s death

Alleging negligence on part of the ambulance driver, R Kuppan, the woman’s father told DT Next that his daughter K Kuppulakshmi, along with six others, had met with an accident at 4.30 pm on Friday near Thiruvidanthai, after a bus skid and fell on them, while they were on their way to a temple. 

“While a private ambulance took the six victims to Chettinad Hospital, Kuppulakshmi, whose condition was the worst, was taken on a 108 ambulance separately. The driver took her to a centre under the Tamil Nadu Accident and Emergency Care Initiative in Injambakkam instead of taking her to Chettinad along with the others.” Stating that Kuppulakshmi’s right leg was broken, Kuppan said that she had also suffered injuries to her nerves, resulting in severe bleeding. 

“At the 24x7 emergency centre, instead of administering her with immediate first aid, they did nothing and later realised they had no facilities for blood transfusion and got permission in writing to shift her,” he alleged. 

Irked by the fact that when his daughter was in a critical condition, they chose to take her to the centre instead of a private hospital, he filed a police complaint at the Neelankarai police station, in which he alleged, “They knew the centre had no facility for blood transfusion. Why then did the duty doctor not instruct the ambulance to take her to Chettinad Hospital immediately?” 

Officials from the ambulance service however said, “The 24x7 emergency centre was barely 11 to 13 kilometres from the accident spot. In such a critical case, we usually take the patient to the nearest centre where they can be stabilised before transferring to a hospital. If you directly transfer the patient, the bleeding will be uncontrollable, and the condition can deteriorate. 

Hence, the logic is to immediately do something to ensure that the chance of survival is higher.” Stating that it is the patient who usually chooses the hospital, Selva Kumar, state head of operations, GVK EMRI, which runs the ambulance service, said, “In her case, there was no attendant and she needed to be stabilised. Usually, after stabilisation, we take the patient to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital or the Government Royapettah Hospital. 

However, her husband requested us to transfer her to Chettinad Hospital, which we adhered to.” Kuppulakshmi’s right leg was amputated at the hospital. However, her condition worsened at 4.30 am on Sunday and she succumbed an hour later, her father said. The victim is survived by her parents, husband and two children.