Delay in getting stretcher at Virar station costs youth his life

MUMBAI: A 28-year-old man who fell off a moving train near Vaitarna on Monday was allegedly made to wait for around 25 minutes for a stretcher at Virar railway station before he was wheeled to a hospital, where he died.

Swapnil Kini, a resident of Saphale in Palghar, had boarded a Dahanu local at Virar around 7.10pm. He was standing on the footboard and allegedly fell on the tracks between Virar and Vaitarna.
His friends managed to reach the spot where he had fallen, carried him and brought him to Vaitarna. The station master then put him on a Mumbai-bound train and he was brought to Virar.
His friends alleged that railway police and station staff were unable to find the sole stretcher at the station.
Kini who had sustained serious injuries on his legs was conscious but in pain, said his friend Sujit Mohite.
It may be recalled that in January, Western Railway (WR) had decided to form ‘Azad Gangs’ of four helpers at each station between Churchgate and Dahanu to provide the “golden hour” of treatment to accident victims. A victim has the highest chance of survival if treatment is provided within an hour or less of an accident or injury, which is called the golden hour.
The plan is yet to be implemented.
The teams are to be known as Azad Gangs in memory of Vile Parle’s deputy station master Ashok Azad, who was run over while attending a case of trespassing on May 18, 2017, around 9pm due to poor lighting.
Meanwhile, commuters on the Virar platform on Monday alleged that calls to the ambulance service 108 were in vain too. The commuters then managed to get a private ambulance and Kini was taken to the nearby Sanjeevani Hospital in a wheelchair provided by the railways where he succumbed to injuries at 11.30pm.
When contacted, a WR spokesperson said Kini was provided first aid and taken on a wheelchair to the ambulance.
Last month, an autorickshaw driver who had entered a Virar platform to help a pregnant woman was booked by railway police. Earlier this month, another rickshaw driver who rode on to the platform at Palghar to help a sick commuter was similarly booked by railway police. Both the pregnant woman and the ailing commuter had alleged that basic medical facilities such as a stretcher and an ambulance were not available on the platforms.
While deaths on WR fell to 1,048 in 2018 from 1,086 in 2017, on an average, 10 people die on railway tracks and an equal number are injured in a day.