Medical centre at KSR City railway station shut for 3 months

BENGALURU: Imagine you are waiting for a train at KSR City station and a co-passenger suddenly falls ill. That patient is unlikely to get timely medical help, especially during the golden hour.
The reason: the railway station, one of the busiest in the country which sees about 2 lakh passengers daily, neither has an emergency centre nor a medical store.

In 2011, South Western Railway’s Bengaluru division along with Narayana Hrudayalaya had set up a medical centre to attend to emergencies of passengers. However, it’s been nearly three months since the centre has been closed.

Normally, railway stations get patients with complaints of dehydration, fever, dizziness, abdominal pain and chest pain as well as fall from platforms, labour pain, food poisoning and injuries while crossing tracks or attempting to board moving trains.

“We don’t have basic medical facilities in case of any emergency. We have to inform the railway hospital near the station’s rear entrance which takes time,” said a railway official.

A medical store which opened at the station was also shut down because of high rent.

Many passengers are unhappy. “It’s unfortunate that there is no medical store at the station. It’s difficult to get emergency care because of lack of facilities at the station and heavy traffic in the area. It takes more time for an ambulance to reach there,” said Manjunath S, a passenger.

In contrast, Southern Railway has initiated free round-the-clock emergency medical centres in major stations and also a free ambulance transport facility to nearby hospitals for further treatment.

In Chennai Central station, for instance, there’s a 24x7 facility manned by an emergency physician and two paramedic nurses to ensure round-the-clock service. A fully battery-operated ambulance buggy is being used there to ferry patients from various platforms to the centre.

NS Sridharamurthy, senior divisional commercial manager, Bengaluru division, said the centre was closed after the contract with Narayana Hrudayalaya expired. “We will soon invite expression of interest to set up a medical centre here,” he added.