Mumbra station: The medical room–cum–pharmacy shop at Mumbra station has downed shutters, blocked by piles of debris. The designated ambulance spot lies deserted, with ongoing Amrit Bharat work occupying the space
The station’s medical room–cum–pharmacy, shuttered and blocked by debris yesterday. Pic/Rajendra B. Aklekar
The medical room–cum–pharmacy shop at Mumbra station has downed shutters, blocked by piles of debris. The designated ambulance spot lies deserted, with ongoing Amrit Bharat work occupying the space. When the accident occurred at Mumbra at 8.58 am on Monday, there was no emergency medical service available to ferry injured commuters promptly.
After the Bombay High Court ruled that ambulances must be made available outside all suburban railway stations, the state government, on February 28, 2014, had instructed Pune-based BVG India Limited to operate the ‘108’ emergency service across Maharashtra. This included stationing a fully functional ambulance with a doctor outside each railway station. So why was there no ambulance at Mumbra station?
Dr Dnyaneshwar Shelke, chief operating officer of BVG India’s 108 ambulance service, told mid-day, “There is no ambulance at Mumbra, and we checked our logbooks — there were no emergency calls made to us from there.”
“The victims were taken to hospitals in Kalwa and Thane, even though there is a hospital in Mumbra itself. City ambulances were likely summoned, and victims were taken in them,” said activist Nazim Ansari.
“This is exactly when we lose the golden hour — that critical window for saving lives — by transporting victims so far. Despite HC orders, there’s still no medical room or ambulance stationed at Mumbra,” a regular commuter added.
Activist Samir Zaveri pointed out the glaring disparity: “While Western Railway has ambulances and medical rooms at all stations, Central Railway (CR) only has the facility at about 10 to 15 stations. There’s no ambulance at Thane, Kalwa, or Mumbra.”
“The incident happened around 9 am, and the first victims reached the hospital by 9.30 am. The last ones were there by 9.50 am. There was no delay in transporting victims to hospitals,” said CR Chief Public Relations Officer Dr Swapnil Nila. On the absence of medical rooms and ambulances, Dr Nila added that Central Railway has tied up with local hospitals nearby to facilitate quicker transport of accident victims.
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