Notwithstanding the State Government’s claim of prompt mobilization of resources to attend to Bahanaga rail crash victims, AIIMS-Bhubaneswar authorities found it tough to evacuate a critically ill patient from Balasore hospital on Sunday, exposing the holes in the post rail disaster control mechanism in the State.

A medical team from the premiere hospital was left stranded and lost precious time in shifting the 23-year-old patient to Bhubaneswar as the hospital at Balasore failed to provide an ambulance.

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“As per information, no government ambulance (108) was available and hence AIIMS BBSR decided to shift the patient at its own cost using the service of private ambulance of Balasore,” said a statement issued by AIIMS-Bhubaneswar.

“The patient was battling for life with a right temporal contusion coupled with mass effect. He had anisocoria with right pupil dilated and not reacting to light. His Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) was also dropping,” said AIIMS authorities.

The patient in critical condition arrived at around 5 pm in a private ambulance accompanied by a doctor, nursing and paramedics of AIIMS-Bhubaneswar. He was rushed to the emergency ward and was then shifted directly to Operation Theatre. The decompressive craniectomy with hematoma evacuation procedure was done. The accident is still critical in the intensive care unit, they said.

“We have so far received 120 unidentified bodies. We are expecting 30 more bodies tonight. Five of the received bodies have been identified and were handed over to the relatives. Besides, around 15 more bodies have been identified by their relatives. Process is on to hand over the bodies to their loved ones in accordance with legal procedure,” they added.