Alleged negligence by rescuers and error of judgement by doctors may have cost the life of one of the three persons killed in the Gandhi Nagar cylinder blast on Monday evening.
The family members of 42-year-old Rajesh Goel, a garments trader, have alleged that he lay without being administered even first aid in the Lok Nayak Hospital’s corridors for almost an hour before they traced him.
“The doctors at the hospital’s emergency department ignored him as they believed him to be brought dead. When we found him lying completely unattended in the corridors, he was still alive,” alleged Rajesh’s relative Vijay Goel.
“He even spoke to me and said that he was experiencing severe pain in his back and would be unable to raise himself. He had been left like cattle without being administered even first aid,” Vijay added.
The family members then allegedly raised a hue and cry, which drew the doctors’ attention. Rajesh was subsequently rushed for treatment, but he succumbed to his injuries in the next few minutes, his family alleged.
The Lok Nayak Hospital authorities claimed that they were unaware of any such incident as no complaint had been filed in this connection. “Two dead persons and six alive but injured persons had been brought from the site (the Gandhi Nagar cylinder blast). But I have no idea about negligence leading to any death,” Yogesh Kumar Sarin, Medical Superintendent of Lok Nayak Hospital, told The Hindu .
Rajesh’s family members also accused the rescuers of apathy and carelessness. “There are several private clinics within close proximity of our home (the blast site), but they took Rajesh to the far-off Lok Nayak Hospital. I kept running around to find out which hospital they took him to, but no informed us,” alleged Rajesh’s sister Rani.
Rajesh’s father Madan Lal said that the family searched for him at all the possible hospitals where he may have been taken before they finally found him at Lok Nayak Hospital, almost 90 minutes after the cylinder and AC compressor blasts that killed three and left a dozen injured.
“The first hour for an accident victim is the golden hour. But, no effort was made to provide any first aid to my brother while transporting him to hospital. The rescuers dumped him and left without bothering to inform the doctors,” said Rani.
According to eyewitnesses, Rajesh had displayed exemplary courage by rescuing two children trapped in the multi-storey building in which the blasts took place around 6.45 p.m. on Monday. “He left the safety of his home on hearing the sound of the first explosion. He climbed over from the roof into the building and rescued two children,” said Rani. Rajesh had then rushed into the opposite building to spray water on the burning building. It was then that an air-conditioner’s compressor exploded, landing debris on the opposite building and knocking Rajesh down.
Two others, 65-year-old Soni Ram and his daughter-in-law Poonam Kashyap, 32, were killed in the blasts. The duo is the father and sister-in-law of Sanjay Kashyap, the owner of the two buildings.
Locals said the casualty could have been much higher had Monday not been the weekly holiday for the market in the crowded Gandhi Nagar locality.
Rajesh climbed over the roof to enter the building and rescue two children
