The wait - for an ambulance that never came - was long and perilous for 60-year-old Mitali Das whose kidney almost gave up late in the night on April 20.
Around 12.30 am, Das, a long ailing kidney patient complained of a pain in her lower abdomen. The 24-year-old son, suspecting kidney failure called the ambulance which, after a long wait, failed to come.
“We then hired an e-rickshaw to take her to the Sanjeevani hospital. The doctors said that had we been a few minutes late, we might have had to lose her,” said her son, recalling the night when her mother had the close shave. Das is currently admitted in the hospital.
The family members however, did not blame the hospitals but the road. Das apparently was victim, and not the only one according to neighbours, of the dilapidated narrow Kamakhya Road in Maligaon Gate no 3 where ambulances and similar larger vehicles find it difficult to reach.
“It isn’t the first time though. There are several instances ambulances not reaching here,” said Anurag Dasgupta, a resident here adding, “Earlier too, in several instances whenever such emergencies came up, we residents chipped in.”
He said that the neighbours, instead of calling an ambulance, carry the victim to the nearest house which has a car and take the patient to the nearest hospital.
But this becomes cumbersome for those who live in the upper hill tracts.
“For those who live on the foot of the hills, we can do that. But it’s difficult for those who have to come down from the hills,” Dasgupta said.
Roads are a major issue for ward elections. Their condition is largely affecting the residents of the wards. They want this problem to be solved at the earliest.
Last time this particular road, which is a detour towards the hills falling on the right of the MG Road when one is travelling from Bharalumukh to Maligaon, saw metalling works was back in 2007.
“It was a year before the council got dissolved in 2008 when the roads were metaled. After that, there was no councillor for five years. The new councillor came to power with promises of building these roads. But five years have passed since then and there has been no construction,” another resident, Bibha Pal, said.
“We are just asking to develop the roads such that these basic facilities are at least served,” Pal added.
When asked, Councillor Shyamal Chakraborty expressed that he won’t be able to develop that area even if he wants to.
“Most of those who live up in the hills hill have actually encroached forest lands. So, it is not very easy to just construct roads there. We have to find out which area is under GMC and which are encroached. That survey should be done by the forest department and only then we can go ahead with the construction. I have appealed to the concerned departments quite a few times, but it’s taking time. Also, after the forest ministry’s survey, there will be a lot of eviction drives too,” Chakraborty said.
The people’s perils however continue. Das’s son is now mulling on how to bring his mother back home, especially under this condition when she might have to be rushed to the hospital at any given hour if a similar situation arises.
