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| Speaker nearly died under ‘VIP treatment’ at SKIMS | | ‘Echo room had no electricity; oxygen exhausted in 15 minutes of take-off to AIIMS’ | | Ahmed Ali Fayyaz | 10/7/2009 12:33:31 AM |
| SRINAGAR, Oct 6: Speaker of Legislative Assembly, Mohammad Akbar Lone, who figures in the top of the list of the state’s very very important persons (VVIPs) in status and protocol, had a providential escape from death under the so-called ‘VIP treatment’ at the prestigious Sher-e-Kashmir-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura, last fortnight. According to him, he was rushed to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, as the doctors at SKIMS failed to make diagnosis for over 27 hours, ECG technician was away at his home, Echo Room had no electricity and even the oxygen refill with him exhausted in just 15 minutes of the state aircraft’s take-off from Srinagar Airport.
Informed sources told Early Times that Mohammad Akbar Lone, 62, was admitted to SKIMS after he complained of severe nausea, diarrhea, breathlessness, pain in chest and lungs and acute perspiration under MRD No: 576505 at 1600 hours on September 24th. As the doctors attending on him failed to diagnose for over 27 hours and his PO2 level decreased dangerously to minus 60%, National Conference patron and Minister in the Union Cabinet, Dr Farooq Abdullah, rushed to SKIMS and got him ferried to AIIMS by a state aircraft.
Doctors who treated Lone at SKIMS said that Speaker was admitted to VIP Room with clear symptoms of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), a form of pneumonia, given the “best possible treatment” but referred to AIIMS only after Dr Abdullah expressed his apprehensions that thousands of the political leader’s followers from his home constituency of Sonawari would swarm to SKIMS, leading to multiple problems relating to the patient’s healthcare and security. Wishing anonymity and insisting to take an official quote only from Director or Medical Superintendent (MS), these doctors complained that “complaints from VIPs and politicians even after getting the best possible treatment” was nothing new for them.
Reached over telephone at AIIMS, Mr Lone acknowledged “good treatment” by a group of doctors at SKIMS but he had no hesitation to confirm reports that SKIMS was lacking in the facilities needed for critical care of its patients.
“Senior most doctors like (Director SKIMS) Dr Zargar, Dr Jalal, Dr Pervez Kaul, Dr Shugafta Qazi and Dr Imtiyaz Naqash attended on me. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was continuously in touch from his office and other places and his Principal Secretary Mr Khursheed Ganai was with me personally monitoring the treatment. Dr Abdullah visited my room twice. Yes, it is a fact that when I was taken for ECG, the technician was away at his home; when I was taken for Echo (Echo Cardiograpgy), there was no electricity available. I was escorted to AIIMS by Dr Mudassar Qadiri of SKIMS but the oxygen cylinder exhausted fully in 15 minutes of our becoming airborne at Srinagar Airport”, Mr Lone said. He said that Dr Mudassar maintained his consciousness with great difficulty.
“I am thankful to Dr Zargar and his team at SKIMS for their treatment but it is a fact that they failed to make the diagnosis and my condition kept on deteriorating till my PO2 level dipped dangerously to minus 60. Thereafter, Minister of Rural Development Ali Mohammad Sagar asked loudly if this was happening to a VVIP what kind of treatment would be available to ordinary patients. Dr Abdullah returned from his home and he got panicky. It was he who arranged the state aircraft within hours and got me rushed to AIIMS at 7.30 a.m next morning”, Mr Lone added.
Thanking his stars, Mr Lone said that he got his “second life” only because of being a VVIP who was personally attended and visited by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Dr Farooq Abdullah, Union Minister of Health Ghulam Nabi Azad and other senior political leaders and government functionaries. “I would have died, had I stayed at SKIMS for one more day. Someone of us must feel ashamed and think what would be happening to the poor, ordinary patients in Kashmir who had no VIP escorts ”, Mr Lone said.
While as Director SKIMS, Dr Abdul Hamid Zargar, maintained that he had no knowledge of the incident as he was away at a SAARC conference in New Delhi, MS of SKIMS, Dr Syed Mohammad Amin Tabish, insisted that he had not received any such complaint either from honourable Speaker or from his attendants. He said that Professor and HOD General Medicine, Dr Pervaiz Koul, Professor and HOD Anesthesiology, Dr Shagufta Qazi, besides eminent cardiologists and faculties from other departments, had personally attended on Mr Lone. According to him, one assistant professor and one senior resident of Hospital Administration department remained attached to Mr Lone all through his admission at SKIMS.
Dr Tabish said that he would check whether there was any lapse or power breakdown and necessary action would be taken if anybody was found guilty. He, nevertheless, admitted that the critical care facilities needed for high profile patients had never been installed in the room “erroneously, called as the VIP Room”. He said that two rooms, close to the so-called VIP Room, were currently being done up as the real VIP Rooms where ventilators, ECG monitors and all other critical care equipment would be installed and, in near future, this facility would be at par with any other tertiary care hospital in the country.
HOD General Medicine, Dr Parvaiz Koul, asserted that “best possible treatment” was made available to the Speaker. He argued that ECG technicians were not part of the 24x7 emergency duty at SKIMS and they were always called from home in case of necessity by night. He said that he was not aware of the power failure at Echo Room but insisted that enough oxygen had been provided to the doctor who escorted Mr Lone in the aircraft. “Normal consumption is 6 litres per minute. Less than 600 litres were required for approximately 90 minutes of Mr Lone’s travel to AIIMS. We instead provided him 1,300 litres. How could it exhaust in just 15 minutes?”, Dr Koul asked and said that it would be verified by Mudassar Qadiri who escorted the VIP. However, Dr Mudassar refused to comment over telephone.
Dr Koul asserted that Mr Lone was properly diagnosed and given necessary antibiotics, including treatment for possible swine flu. He said that he would have recovered in next couple of days but was still admitted at AIIMS. He claimed that the doctors at AIIMS had only changed the antibiotic protocol of the patient as it varied from hospital to hospital. He said that he would have been flown by air ambulance and not by the ordinary state aircraft had his condition been critical at the time of his departure. Diabetic and hypertensive, Mr Lone insisted that he was shifted to Delhi only after he reached “close to death”. He said that he started recovering only after he received initial treatment at AIIMS.
Dr Tabish as well as other authorities admitted that the existing ‘VIP Room’ at SKIMS was just an isolation chamber, better placed only in terms of security and hygiene. One of the doctors, working at SKIMS for over last 10 years, said that he would never have any one of his friends or relatives admitted at ‘VIP Room’ as it was deficient in terms of all facilities, including special power supply, and additionally far away from the respective wards. He revealed that there was no regular staff attached to the VIP Room and doctors and technicians were always requisitioned from distant wards and rooms. He disclosed that even the general wards were without ordinary ventilators. “In case of a sudden cardiac arrest, any one of us (doctors) is sure to die in the ward as the specialists and technicians can never reach us in 4-5 critical minutes”, he said.
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