Rourkela: Turning a good Samaritan proved costly for a man, who came to the rescue of a person injured in road accident in the city, as he had to pay from his pocket for admitting him in hospital.
According to sources, while one Niraj Chaurvedi of the city was going in his car, he found a man lying on road side near Pantha Nivas on Thursday. After stopping the car, he went to enquire about his condition but found hi unconscious. The man, who appeared to be a victim of road accident, was bleeding in several parts of his body.
Apprehending that he was in critical condition and it will be too late before the ambulance arrives, Niraj took him in his car to Ispat General Hospital (IGH) in the steel city. On checking the injured person, the doctors of Casualty ward said his condition was critical and he needs to be admitted immediately. But the hospital authorities told Niraj to deposit Rs 5,000 in the counter first for admitting the patient.
When Niraj told them that the inured person was not known to him and he had only helped in getting to the hospital, the authorities stuck to their demand of depositing the money. On finding himself in a helpless condition, Niraj told them to admit the man immediately as he was bleeding profusely and he would arrange money as he did not have the amount with him. Still, the doctors did not admit the man who was lying on the stretcher in the dressing room.
With no other way out, Niraj asked one of his friends to come with the money which he deposited in the IGH counter and then the patient was admitted. But by the time, more than 90 minutes had lapsed.
“It is strange that the doctors in the prestigious IGH insisted on depositing the money instead of attending to a critically injured person. Anything could happen to him during that precious one and a half hours. Earlier also, I have helped accident victims several times. But in this case, the family of the victim could not be contacted. Even the person who was with the injured person left IGH soon after we arrived there. I wonder what is the priority of IGH doctors – money or life of a patient,” said Niraj.
In a tweet to Sundargarh collector, Niraj informed about the incident and sought his intervention. “Plz suggest next time should I help or not as everytime I cannot pay,” he said.
