One-and-half-year-old accident victim dies as ambulance gets stuck in traffic

BENGALURU, HASSAN: A one-and-half-year-old girl, who was critically injured in a road accident, died on Thursday after the ambulance in which she was being brought to Bengaluru got stuck in traffic near Nelamangala on the outskirts of the city.

The child Huda Kausar is the daughter of Ahmed and Ruksana who hail from from Tiptur in Tumakuru district. They were going on their two-wheeler when they met with an accident with a Mahindra Bolero SUV near Kaimara on Thursday. The child suffered serious head injury while the couple were also injured.

All the three were rushed to a hospital in Tiptur where the doctors referred them to Hassan Institute of Medical Sciences (HIMS) for further treatment. However, the doctors at HIMS advised them to get treatment at Nimhans without any further delay as the child’s condition was critical. From Hassan, the ambulance reached Nelamanagala in one hour with zero traffic, but got stuck for about 20 minutes near Goraguntepalya.

Ambulance association members helped out driver Madusudhan all along the way, but he got stuck at Nelamangala.

While starting out from Hassan, the ambulance driver Madhusudhan posted a request about zero traffic in a WhatsApp group and was helped by members of the ambulance association members to clear traffic all along the route. Hence, he was able to reached Nelamangala without delay. However, with no alternative road in Nelamangala, the ambulance got stuck and there was little that the association members could do.

Ambulance driver Madhusudhan said if there was no traffic jam in Nelamangala, the child may have survived.

Madhusudhan said, “The child died without getting emergency treatment in the golden hour. I reached Nelamangala from Hassan in an hour, but there was traffic congestion. If the child had got treatment about 30 minutes earlier, it would have survived. The people in All Karnataka Ambulance Road Safety WhatsApp group have helped me with clearing the road of traffic and many ambulances provided escort from Channarayapatna, Bellur Cross till Nelamangala. The baby was to be shifted to Nimhans hospital, but when we reached Nelamangala, there was no alternative road and the child’s condition started worsening with the pulse rate dropping. So, we immediately rushed to People Tree hospital, but by that time, the child succumbed to injuries”.