Title - Plea for medical facility at Central station

A writ plea has been made in the Madras HC for a direction to the Southern Railway to set up a permanent 24-hour emergency medical care centre in Chennai Central station to safeguard the lives of passengers who need emergency medical care.

When the public interest writ petition from advocate A Malathi of Manapakkam village near Chennai came up for hearing before the first bench comprising Chief Justice M Y Eqbal and Justice T S Sivagnanam on Thursday, the standing counsel for Railways P T Ramkumar took notice.

Directing him to get instructions and file a counter-affidavit stating specifically within how much time the Railways would provide emergency medical care facility in the station, the bench adjourned the matter till November 29.

According to the petitioner, the total length of the station was nearly one km and it had 15 platforms. More than 3.50 lakh passengers use the station daily. There is no ambulance service there.

While attempting to board the Trivandrum mail at the station on May 5, one Kunjamma slipped and fell onto the tracks. She struggled for over 30 minutes before being taken to the nearby hospital, where she was declared brought dead. Another passenger, George died due to a heart attack. Provision of emergency medical services itself will go a long way in protecting the precious lives of passengers, the petitioner said.