Highlights
- Realising that a delay could put the female patient in harm’s way, Dr. Nandakumar left his car and ran for three kilometres, about 45 minutes to perform the crucial surgery.
- “Even patients and their families are anxiously waiting for the doctors. What if a patient in an ambulance is stuck in traffic? There was no space even for an ambulance to pass.”
What street food is to Delhi, rain is to Mumbai, traffic is to Bengaluru. Infamous for its long traffic snarls, the city experiences excruciatingly long wait hours on the roads to cover short distances.
So, when a surgeon in Bengaluru city got stuck in the city’s traffic made worse by rains and waterlogging, it was not anything out of the usual. But what he did next was! The doctor reportedly ditched his car on the road and ran to the hospital to perform surgery.
Ran 3 kms to Perform Surgery
Dr Govind Nandakumar, a gastroenterology surgeon at Manipal Hospitals, was on his way to perform an emergency laparoscopic gallbladder surgery on August 30 when he got stuck in the traffic jam on the Sarjapur-Marathalli stretch.
Realising that a delay could put the female patient in harm’s way, Dr Nandakumar left his car and ran for three kilometres, about 45 minutes to perform the crucial surgery.
“The last stretch usually takes ten minutes. I was stuck in the traffic, getting nervous about being late,” he told The New Indian Express.
Rains made traffic worse
Speaking to Times of India, he said, “I had to reach Manipal Hospital in Sarjapur from Cunningham Road. Due to heavy rains and waterlogging, there was a traffic pile up a few kilometers ahead of the hospital.”
Adding that he did not want to keep his patients waiting, he said, “I did not want to waste any more time waiting for the traffic to clear up as my patients aren’t allowed to have their meals until surgery is over. I did not want to keep them waiting for long.”
“I have a driver, so, I was able to leave the car behind. It was easy for me to run because I gym regularly. I ran three kms to hospital, and was in time for the surgery,” he told The New Indian Express.
Not the first time
He added that this is not the first time he has faced such a situation. “I have had to make the journey on foot a few times in other areas of Bengaluru too, sometimes crossing railway lines. I was not anxious since our hospital has adequate staff and infrastructure to take good care of a patient. The situation may not be the same for small hospitals,” he said.
“Even patients, their families are anxious waiting for the doctors. What if a patient in an ambulances is stuck in traffic? There was no space even for an ambulance to pass.”
Later it was found that the surgery was successful, and the patient was discharged on time.
Heavy rain in the past few weeks caused waterlogging and traffic jams in the IT city. Many videos emerged on social media that showed vehicles stranded on a long waterlogged stretch on Bengaluru-Mysuru highway, and pedestrians struggling to walk.
