RML made us wait endlessly without responding, says MP with E. Ahamed

All those accompanying late former minister E. Ahamed, including his family, were made to wait endlessly at the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital here with doctors giving no update on his health, Lok Sabha member E.T. Mohammed Basheer said on Friday.

"The doctors were not allowing anyone inside the trauma centre where Ahamed was kept. No doctors were coming out of it either and there was no update about his health," Basheer told IANS.

Some of the opposition MPs alleged there was a deliberate attempt on the part of authorities to delay the announcement of Ahamed's death as the Union Budget 2017-18 was to be presented in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

Basheer, the Indian Union Muslim League MP who accompanied E. Ahamed to hospital when the former minister suffered a massive heart attack during the President's address to the joint sitting of the both Houses of Parliament on Tuesday, said those accompanying him had a harrowing time at the hospital.

Ahamed was first admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the RML, but after a few hours he was shifted to the trauma centre.

Basheer alleged that the doctors and the security staff were not behaving properly even with the visiting MPs and the family members of Ahamed.

"Around 8-8.30 p.m., his daughter and son-in-law, who are both doctors, arrived. The daughter insisted to see her father but was not let in. We were all getting impatient."

"Then we went to see the Medical Superintendent (MS) and explained to him that Ahamed's daughter was a doctor and understands all the complications and the treatment given to him. So, at least she should be allowed to go inside. The MS agreed and told us we could proceed and he would meanwhile instruct the staff to let us in," Basheer said.

"However, when we reached there the security people stopped us, saying they had no instructions from the MS. We tried to call the MS, but he did not take our calls," he said.

Basheer said that he again rushed to the MS office but "there was no one" there.

Around midnight, a doctor came and told the family that they were doing a test to see if the "brain was alive". After that, again there was no word from the doctors for next one and a half hours.

"It was around 1.30 a.m. that a doctor came out and took his daughter inside. She saw he was gone," he said.

"I believe he was dead long back. Why were they not letting us know or not giving any update on his health?" Bahseer demanded to know.

--IANS

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