Click to play videoA day after 32-year-old Sumit Varma died because he was denied entry into a Chandigarh hospital by the Prime Minister's security, Dr Manmohan Singh has sent a letter of apology to the family. In the letter, the PM says he deeply regrets the restrictions due to which Sumit could not get quick access to medical treatment.
Taking note of public inconvenience caused due to VVIP security movements, Dr Singh says he has issued instructions to ensure that authorities were "more sensitive" to the concerns of the common man while making security arrangements.
The Prime Minister's security as well as the Chandigarh Police are now under the scanner for the incident. Chandigarh SSP, S S Srivastav joined CNN-IBN to explain the situation.
CNN-IBN: The Prime Minister has written to the family of the person who died because his security would not let him through into the hospital, apologising for what happened. The Prime Minister's security as well as the local police are under the scanner. Would you like to clarify as to what exactly happened?
S S SRIVASTAV: Incidentally what happened was that they traveled in a private vehicle. There was no ambulance or any such vehicle that moved from there and there were some traffic diversions. We normally stop the traffic for a minimum possible time and Chandigarh has the advantage that there are multiple roads and crossings. So we normally ensure that the stoppage time is of not more than 2-3 minutes and then again we try to clear off the traffic as a soon as possible. So this family apparently got delayed a little bit because of one of the stoppages and subsequently they reached the PGI and they were guided to the appropriate gate from where they were supposed to enter.
CNN-IBN: Are you saying sir that had the family been in an ambulance, the response of the officials would have been different?
S S SRIVASTAV: Yes that would have definitely made a difference because these are the very clear briefings and instructions that if anyone is moving in an ambulance, or somebody needs help, they should be given proper support. Even at PGI, this briefing had been given. But they were from outside, they were not familiar with the roads and then they entered from one particular gate. Even then one of the security personnel of PGI helped them reach the emergency and they were taken in.
CNN-IBN: This could happen to anyone, a critically ill patient being brought in a private vehicle gets caught in a VIP jam and - as the family claims - is diverted from one gate to the other. The Prime Minister in his letter also seems to agree that his security could have been a little insensitive.
S S SRIVASTAV: No this is not correct. The diversions were very minimal and the distance from one gate to another in PGI is very short. I can share with you that we have also analysed the emergencies responded to by the PGI. Normally 8 am to 1pm every day is the relevant time for all reference. During the same period on October 31, November 1 and November 2, PGI attended to 21 or 22 emergencies and on November 3 during the same relevant time, they attended to 32 emergencies. This is in fact 10 more than the normal emergencies they have attended to in the past three days.
CNN-IBN: The PMO has asked you for a report. What are you going to say in that about the conduct of your men?
S S SRIVASTAV: We are taking it very seriously. It's unfortunate that a person has died. He was obviously in a very critical state, because of mutiple failures his kidneys were not functional and he was on dialysis for some time and he was also suffering from a respiratory disorder. We have got a post mortem done, although the family was insisting that we hand over the body without a post mortem. So we are examining all aspects. If there is any need to improve in future we will definitely take care of that.
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