While there were no doctors at the first two hospitals, he was declared dead at the third; the body was taken for post-mortem three hours later

After he fell unconscious at his in-laws’ house at Kalyan around 1.30 pm, the relatives of 48-year-old Haresh Bangar took him to three hospitals, spending almost three hours in the process before they could find a doctor to check him on Sunday. Bangar was eventually declared dead at the third hospital, and his body was sent for post-mortem at 7.30 pm, three hours later.

Representational picture

While the cause of death is yet to be ascertained, officials of Kolsewadi Police Station under whose jurisdiction the incident took place, have filed an Accidental Death Report, and are yet to start the investigation, as they were busy in the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Election bandobast duty.

The incident

The incident took place at around 1.30 pm at his in-laws’ place where Bangar had gone after casting his vote. Some family members who came to visit him said that he seemed normal and was talking to them.

"After a while when we were leaving for our house nearby for lunch, we asked him to come along, but he said he was feeling uneasy and would join us in some time. Moments after we reached home, one of my nephews who was with him, came running and told us that Bangar seemed to have had a seizure," said his brother-in-law Suresh Dalvi.

No doctors at hospitals

When Dalvi went back, Bangar was lying unconscious, and his body temperature had fallen. The family members and neighbours tried splashing water onto his face and rubbing his feet and palms to revive him. Moments later, when they claim they couldn’t find him breathing, they took him to Jarimari Hospital for treatment.

"We called a rickshaw and took him to the hospital. When we reached, one of our relatives went upstairs to call the doctor, but the nurse informed us that being a Sunday there were no doctors available," added Dalvi.

Dr Arvind Gaikwad, who owns Jarimari Hospital, confirmed that there was a possibility that the doctors were not available at the hospital then.

"It is a pediatric hospital and on Sundays, doctors are mostly not available. I am not sure if the patient was transferred, but usually we refer patients to other hospitals in times like this. I’ll have to check with my staff as even I wasn’t there at the hospital," said Gaikwad.

Dead on admission

The family then took Bangar to a private clinic, where the nurses checked him as no doctors were there either, and asked them to take him to Metro Hospital for treatment. The same rickshaw was then taken to Metro Hospital at around 4.30 pm where Bangar was immediately taken to the casualty ward for treatment.

"Within fifteen minutes of the admission, the doctor informed us that he is dead. They said that the ECG showed a flat line and he was already dead while being transported," added Dalvi. The hospital then informed the family that they needed to conduct a post-mortem, and hence they will have to take him to Rukminibai Hospital, the civic hospital of Kalyan.

Dr Yogesh Chaubey, the attending doctor from Metro said that they asked the family to take him to Rukminibai, since the post-mortem could be conducted there. “We didn’t find any external injuries on the body, but also couldn’t determine the cause of death, as the treatment didn’t take place at our hospital.

The patient was brought dead and to determine the cause the post-mortem was necessary. That was the reason why we asked them to take him to the civic hospital for forensic analysis,” said Chaubey. The family members then took the Bangar’s body to Rukminibai Hospital.

Police speak

Kolsewadi Police officials, who were informed about the case at Rukminibai Hospital, registered an ADR in the matter. K N Ghete, senior police inspector of Kolsewadi Police Station said, “It takes time for the officials to prepare PM notes. We are busy in election bandobast. We have filed an ADR and will investigate the matter soon.”