January 21: Morning, around 11.30 am at Santacruz station, a dismembered body lies uncovered on the platform, and numerous onlookers cast curious glances at it.Such sights are not uncommon in Mumbai. Dozens of commuters struck by suburban trains have to part with their lives due to the total lack of emergency care. The best of aid may be given after the victim is taken to a hospital in the vicinity, but doctors say the mishandling of the situation immediately after the accident ensures the damage done is rendered irreversible.Western and Central Railway authorities insist that their ``rescue squad operates like a well-oiled machine.'' The rescue squad comprises a stretcher and two porters at every station along the suburban lines. But the iron stretchers at Dadar, Mahalaxmi and Kurla stations are all rusted, as they've been leaning against the wall of the station master's room on the platform.A station master on the Western line admitted the rusted stretchers could easily cause septic wounds. ``Railway authorities have given us canvas stretchers that can't be washed properly. The stench of blood is repelling, so we don't use them. Even the metal ones should be made of steel coated with enamel. Iron is bound to rust,'' he said. Said Mukul Marwah, Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO), CR, ``In most cases, train accidents are fatal. But if the person is alive, porters have been instructed to rush the injured to the nearest hospital by taxi or by flagging down a passing vehicle.''But doctors disagree. ``If an accident occurs between Matunga and Dadar stations, victims are taken to Parel station by train and then carried to KEM hospital on a stretcher,'' Dr Arun Bal said.However, station masters maintained, Cooper Hospital at Vile Parle and Bhagwati Hospital at Borivli don't accept seriously injured rail accident victims. ``Accident victims from Andheri and even Jogeshwari are brought to Dadar by train. As soon as we're informed about an accident, we call an ambulance to Dadar station, so that the patientcan be taken to Sion hospital,'' K S Kale, station superintendent at Dadar said. At smaller stations like Elphinstone Road and Lower Parel, there are no porters, and taxis aren't easily available. Untrained petty workers are hired to carry the injured. A station master said, ``If the victim's bleeding heavily, taxi drivers refuse to take him. Private ambulances aren't prompt, and charge as much as Rs 300 from Dadar to Sion."Rights activist Colin Gonsalves alleged that employees pocket the taxi fare, but the victim is transported by train. ``At Kurla, porters dump the victim on the blood-stained rusted stretcher and wait for a relatively less crowded train,'' Gonsalves said. First aid boxes at various stations contained cotton wool, a tube of anti-septic cream, pain-killers, sticking plaster and wooden splints. Station superintendents agree almost all train accident victims are in a critical condition, and this kind of first aid is useless.Lamenting the absence of pre-hospital care, Dr Sudhir Shenoy, head of the surgery department, KEM and in charge of the trauma unit illustrated four aspects of emergency care which must work in tandem. These include an ambulance equipped with basic facilities like oxygen and life-saving drugs. Shenoy said that most ambulances today don't have these facilities.
