'Had hospital admitted her, she could have been saved'

Thirty-six-year-old Shalini Kakade, who sustained serious injuries after a massive tree came crashing down on her at Samarth Road in Karvenagar on Monday evening, breathed her last at Sahyadri hospital early yesterday morning.

Deadly mishap: Shalini Kakade was crushed under a huge Babool tree at Samarth Road in Karvenagar while she was returning home from work on Monday evening.

Shalini was first rushed to Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, but institute authorities denied her admission stating non-availability of bed in the ICU. She had to wait for at least 20 minutes in the ambulance at the hospital premises, and was later shifted to Sahyadri.

"The callousness of Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital administration claimed my sister-in-law's life," alleged Kakade's brother-in-law Manohar Hambir. He said that had the hospital admitted her during the golden hour, she could have been saved.

Cops from Kothrud police station rushed her to the hospital around 8.30 pm

"Shalini, who was my wife's sister, was a widow and did not have any children. She was working in a private nursing home as nurse, and was retuning home when the accident took place.

Cops from Kothrud police station rushed her to the hospital around 8.30 pm, but the authorities of Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital kept the ambulance waiting outside the hospital, and said that they can't start the treatment as they don't have beds free in the ICU," said Hambir, who had come to receive Shalini'sbody at the mortuary. He added that the family would file a complaint against Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital for their callous behaviour.

‘We revived her'
When contacted, a senior official from the hospital said, "When the patient arrived, her condition was so bad that even her pulse couldn't be found. We revived her, and then asked her attendants to shift her to another hospital, as there was no bed vacant in the ICU, and the ventilators too weren't available. We found out that Sahyadri Hospital had ventilators, and hence asked that she be shifted there."u00a0Hambir said that they reached Sahyadri Hospital around 9.30 pm, where Shalini was admitted to the ICU. "However, some of the staffers told us that she was already dead. Still, the doctors put her on ventilator and around 1 am they told us that she had succumbed to her injuries, and handing us over a bill of Rs 40,000," he alleged.u00a0

The other side
Deepa Divekar, medical director of Sahyadri hospital refuted the allegations. "When the patient arrived here, her heart was beating. Hence, we didn't declare her brought dead. Besides, we tried our best to save her life."u00a0Commenting on the bill, Dr Alapini Thopte from the hospital said, "Considering the treatment, we have levied appropriate charges. I have gone through the bill properly, and found no error in it."u00a0