Patient stranded at Andheri station for three hours after discharge from hospital

Mumbai witnessed heavy showers and flooding in parts of the city on Wednesday.

With two plastic bags wrapped around his swollen leg, diabetic and hypertensive patient Santosh Anand Thakur had to brave the rains for three hours on Tuesday, after he was discharged from KEM hospital in the evening. He was accompanied by his wife who was suffering from fever, when heavy showers started flooding parts of the financial capital.

The 35-year-old patient with obesity started from the Parel hospital towards his home in Virar in a local train, but had to alight at Andheri station due to the crowd in the train and pain in his left leg. He remained at the station for over three hours hopping with support from his wife and few others willing to help, until two commuters took him to R N Cooper Hospital where he was admitted for the night.

Santosh Anand Thakur had to brave the rains for three hours on Tuesday, after he was discharged from KEM hospital in the evening.

A commuter at Andheri station, Gaurav Dadheech, said: “I saw him at the station and his entire left leg was swollen. We tried to find a cab to send him home but several roads were flooded. Even the emergency medical room at the station was of no help.”

Dadheech got plastic bags to wrap up Thakur’s foot so that it did not come in contact with rain water.

Thakur, a daily labourer, claims he was discharged from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation-run KEM hospital without a discharge summary or medical papers as his bill of Rs 400 was pending. “I had told doctors that I have pain in my leg and it is swollen but they said it can be taken care of at home,” he said. Thakur was admitted to KEM hospital’s ward 6 on September 1 to undergor treatment for a diabetic foot. He underwent debridement, a procedure to remove dead necrotic cells, at KEM hospital and remained there for 19 days.

Thakur’s medical records show he suffers from diabetes and hypertension, apart from obesity and alcoholism, putting him at high risk for foot ulcers. His wife Bharti claimed that she was asked by nurses to sign on discharge papers and the couple had no option but to leave KEM hospital. With no money left, they took a local train. When his condition worsened because of the swollen leg, the couple decided to spend the night at Andheri station.
He was taken to Cooper hospital in an auto rickshaw by 11 pm through the waterlogged roads. “Doctors asked him to rest as there was no one available to change dressing,” Dadheech said.

Dr Avinash Supe, the dean of KEM hospital, said: “The patient has been well-looked after since he was admitted for 19 days. Such wounds take time to heal and we ask patients to come for referral checks every 15 days.”

On Wednesday, Thakur was treated at Cooper hospital on an out patient department basis and given injection to reduce pain. An on-duty doctor at the hospital said Thakur did not require hospitalisation.