11 June,2011 07:23 AM IST | | Vinod Kumar Menon
BESIDES causing immense problems for office goers from the central suburbs, the NCP rally at the Somaiya grounds in Sion nearly claimed a 20-year-old's life.
For, among the hundreds of vehicles stuck in an endless jam caused by the rally on the Eastern Express Highway (EEH), was an ambulance in which Lata Rajne, who was critical after consuming poison, was being transferred from Alibaug Civil Hospital to the KEM Hospital in Parel.
A doctor who was in Lata Rajne's ambulance kept monitoring her condition even as they kept getting stuck in jams at various points in their journey
The journey, which should have taken Rajne and her in-laws no more than three hours, took them seven, with two excruciating hours spent in negotiating a distance of less than 2 km between Suman Nagar Junction (Priyadarshini) and Sion on the EEH.
According to Rajne's husband, Mithun, Lata consumed poison on Monday, while his family and he were away on work.
"She was rushed to the Alibaug Civil Hospital, where, after treating her for three days, doctors said she was critical and her condition was not improving. They said she needed to be taken to the KEM Hospital in Mumbai and we left Alibaug around 9 am yesterday," said Mithun.
"The traffic was slow moving from Pen, but we used an inside road and managed to reach Vashi. I do not know the reason for the traffic, but some passersby mentioned a rally. It took us two hours to get through a short stretch on the Eastern Express Highway and we finally reached KEM only at 4 pm," added Mithun.
Dr Swapnil Pawar, who was travelling in the ambulance to monitor Lata's condition, said, "Hers is a case of organophosphorus poisoning and she was in a semi-conscious state and critical when we were stuck in traffic for hours."
Doctors treating Lata at KEM confirmed that she was critical and would be shifted to the Medical Intensive Care Unit.
