Had the Pauri hospital been in better condition L Mohan Kothiyal could have been saved, says sr journalist Moudgil ?

My heart goes with the bereaved family of the senior journalist and associate editor of prestigious Magazine of Uttarakhand, Regional Reporter Lalit Mohan Kothiyal, founded and edited by the veteran journalist late Uma Shankar Thapliyal. Hard lucked and unfortunate Kothiyal breathed his last at the Srinagar, Garhwal’s Base hospital today after suffering from a massive cardiac arrest.

Late L Mohan Kothiyal was the resident of Pauri township where he suffered the attack today and was rushed to the Pauri district hospital under critical condition. The senior journalist of Hindistan Times and an old colleague of late Kothiyal, Arvind Moudgil was informed of his severely deteriorating health condition and he too rushed to the hospital but was really aghast to see the negligence of the staff and the doctors concerned who literally did nothing to admit him in ICU n ventilator perhaps because it was’nt in the working condition or lacking the necessary machine/ equipments and was immediately referred and shifted to the Base hospital in Srinagar, Garhwal, the constituency represented by the number two in the Uttarakhand’s political hierarchy after the chief minister namely Dhan Singh Rawat.

Almost unconscious and in critical condition it took one hour or more to shift late Kothiyal to Base hospital where after little check ups he was declared dead after not being able to get revived despite best efforts of the doctors.

Had the Pauri district hospital been equipped with a fully functioning ICU having adequate ventilator machine and other facilities critical Kothiyal could have been put on the ventilator and his precious life saved but unfortunately, in the absence of the immediately required services and a well equipped ICU with a ventilator machine and a senior cardiologist, the deceased journalist was referred to Srinagar Garhwal where almost more than one and a half hours were wasted and the latter, in extreme critical stage had to embrace death.

This is really shocking and brutal. It’s rather a diabolical death of a journalist in the absence of the ICU/ ventilator machine and an efficient cardiac surgeon.

Had these facilities existed in Pauri district hospital, the patient of cardiac arrest could have been saved by way of addmitting him in the ICU and putting him on ventilator immediately. But it did’nt happened the way it should have been.

Cardiac arrest occurs due to the blockade of arteries going to the heart supplying oxygenated blood. If the flow is stopped due to blockages of the arteries or high blood pressure the cardiac arrest takes place. The patient thereafter is immediately shifted to the ICU and put on ventilation machine to give him or her artificial respiration/ oxygen to revive the system till other alternative treatments like heart surgery or planting of stunts into the arteries to remove the blockade could be arranged.

But in the case of hard lucked and unfortunate journalist late Lalit Mohan Kothiyal, not only had the Pauri district hospital not addmitted him in ICU n ventilation due to the absence of the facility but was referred to Base hospital, Srinagar, Garhwal which was an hour or more distance away from Pauri township.

By the time he reached there it was all over and the doctors/ cardiologists at the Base Hospital could not revive him and declared him as dead, rather brought dead. In the words of a senior journalist and a close friend of late Lalit Mohan Kothiyal, Arvind Moudgil which he posted on his timeline in the state of shock is as following:

पता नही क्यों मुझे लगता है कि ज़िला अस्पताल पौड़ी थोड़ा भी बेहतर होता तो ललित भाई को बचाया जा सकता था ,,,
रेफर कर दिया , एम्बुलेंस दे दी , बस हो गया ,,, ऐसे ही बहुत से मेरे करीबी चले गए और हम हमेशा यही कहते रहे कि शायद इतना ही लिखा था हो सकता है ये भी सच हो पर फिर भी ,,,, upset हूँ बहुत

Don’t know, why I feel that had the district hospital been in better condition, even a little bit, brother Lalit could have been saved.
The hospital reffered him, provided Ambulance, that’s it.
My several close friends have departed like this n we’d always been saying that perhaps they were destined to leave this world. May be this is true, but even then… I am badly upset
Arvind Moudgil

This statement from a senior journalist friend of the deceased is enough to prove home the point that how people in critical circumstances in the hill areas are at the mercy of God, in the absence of governmental medical facilities despite the fact that the state government boasts too much of its achievements on the health, education and employment fronts whereas the situation is just topsy tervy even after 18 years of the state achieving the separate existence after the sacrifice of 43 or more precious lives of our sisters, brothers and friends.

The Uttarakhand Journalists Forum demands an impartial judicial enquiry in the sad demise of senior journalist Lalit Mohan Kothial due to lack of medical treatment in time and his non addmission in the ICU at Pauri Hospital in order to immediately put him on the ventilator machine to revive or continue his respiration. And believe me, the Pauri Garhwal is the district from where hail the chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, NSA Ajit Doval, the UP CM Yogi Adityanath and ofcourse the politically most influential and number two in the Uttarakhand cabinet Dhan Singh Rawat etc. What’s your take friends?