Daily Lessons from Life 04 November 2009

"Indian PM sorry after security keeps dying man from care

He was prevented from receiving emergency treatment because the premier was touring the hospital. -Wed, Nov 04, 2009 AFP

NEW DELHI - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh apologised on Wednesday to the widow of a man who was prevented from receiving emergency treatment because the premier was touring the hospital.

Singh wrote in a letter that he had heard desperately ill S. Verma "could not get access (to the hospital) in time because of the restrictions in place for my visit there."

"This is something I deeply regret," Singh said, adding he had ordered his security protection to be "more sensitive to the concerns of the common man" in future.

Verma, a 32-year-old with a history of kidney problems, was held up for two hours outside at the PGIMER hospital in the northern city of Chandigarh due to the prime minister's visit on Tuesday, his family said.


However police and hospital officials earlier dismissed the family's claims, saying emergency facilities were kept open and that the patient was in the final stages of a fatal disease.

Two Indian prime ministers - Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi - have died at the hands of assassins."

The India PM is immensely popular and respected by many Indians and foreigners alike. I am glad to see his expression of regret to the decease's family even though the police and hospital officials had earlier dismissed such claim.

Lessons for me are:

1. given the assassination of the 2 previous PMs of India, the security consideration is necessarily tight and erred on the cautious side. At the same time, the loss of a life that could have been saved, if the delay were true, must remind, as the PM of India rightly pointed out, sensitive to the ordinary patients in distress. A tough call but the direction seems to have been set. That the security force needs to consider allowing such emergency treatment during the 'lock down' period!;

2. if the earlier claims by the police and the hospital officials that emergency facilities were opened during the tour, they need to find out what went wrong? what still caused the alleged 2 hours delay that resulted, probably, the death of the patient. They then need to communicate to the people involved to clear any doubts and suspicions!;

3. as a standard operation procedure, emergency should be treated, if they were not. Perhaps with extra security screening for such emergency cases so that the balance of being sensitive to the patient's needs and the protection of the PM's life can be struck!

Good on you Mr. Singh. You are on par with Premier Zhou and Zhu of PRC! Wow!!