Sanjay Nimbalkar and his daughter, Pranjal. Narendra Vaskar Sanjay Nimbalkar and his daughter, Pranjal. Narendra Vaskar

SANJAY NIMBALKAR (57), a general physician for 34 years, claimed that his skills and experience were tested the most during the nine-hour travel in the Karmali-Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) Tejas Express on Sunday. His biggest challenge was to calm down passengers on board the train, in which 24 passengers had to be admitted to the Life Care hospital in Chiplun after they complained of food poisoning.

Nimbalkar, who was travelling in the chair car compartment on Sunday, along with his wife and daughter, recalled the journey when two of the co-passengers complained of nausea and stomach pain. “We had just finished with our tomato soup at 12.30 pm when someone came calling out to check if there was any doctor in the train. When my daughter and I told them that we were medical practitioners, we were told about two passengers who complained of stomach pain and nausea. By the time we attended to them, the situation had become intense,” said Nimbalkar, who runs his clinic in CBD Belapur in Navi Mumbai.

The doctor recalled that when they began attending to the ill passengers, other passengers were already in a state of confusion and panic. While many suggested to halt the train at that given spot, a few even reached to pull the chain in the train, he said. “We had just left Ratnagiri railway station when the incident happened. The next halt was at Chiplun railway station, at least two hours away. After giving the required medication to a few passengers who complained of nausea, we realised nothing was going to work on them till they get the required medical care in a hospital. So, we tried our best to convince the passengers that the train needs to run till we reach a specific halt,” added Nimbalkar.

The father-daughter doctor duo added that they did not have their stethoscopes or other accessories with them as they were returning from a four-day holiday in Goa. By checking the pulse of ill passengers and through analysing their symptoms, Nimbalkar said, they tried to identify the problem and spread a word of caution to others. “We saw the relatives of passengers were surrounding those who were ill, suffocating them further. This was followed by switching off the air-conditioner in the coach as many complained of the vomit smell that had spread across coaches. We asked them not to surround the ill passengers and allow them to breath freely,” said Nimbalkar. While a few of those taken to the hospital blamed the food served in the train, which they claimed was “smelly”, the Nimbalkars claimed they were satisfied with the quality of food that was served to them.

“After the train halted at Chiplun station for two hours, we resumed the journey at 2.30 pm. I had my lunch at around 4.30 pm without having any issue with the quality of food served. Many other passengers too had their lunch,” said Nimbalkar. “I am not a judge to say whether there was any problem in the food. However, with a less than two minute halt at each station in this train which has automatic doors, passengers can not take a chance to step out at stations and eat. Few of them opt to carry lunch with them. Many will thus opt to eat in the train, hoping the food served is suitable to the price we pay,” he added.

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