The Bombay High Court directed Maharashtra Government to inform all hospitals, private and public, to provide treatment to all accident victims instead of turning them away.
A division bench of Justices V M Kanade and A R Joshi passed the direction after it was informed that a railway accident victim had succumbed to her injuries as she did not get medical treatment for over nine hours.
The court was hearing a PIL filed by activist Samir Zaveri seeking medical facilities at railway stations so that victims can be provided first-aid in the ‘Golden Hour’ (within one hour of the accident).
The court observed that it was wrong that the victim did not get medical treatment, due to which she lost her life.
The bench asked the government to instruct all hospitals to admit and provide treatment to any accident victim.
On February 9, one Darshana Pawar fell off the train between Badlapur and Ambarnath stations.
She was rushed to a nearby private hospital which refused to treat her saying they don’t treat accident victims.
She was then taken to a government hospital and then a central government hospital, which were far away. As both the hospitals did not have the facilities to treat her, she was brought to Sion hospital which did not have an empty bed.
Darshana was finally taken to KEM hospital which also did not have a bed. All this shifting took over nine hours by which time Pawar succumbed to her injuries.
The high court has kept the PIL for hearing in April.
