Emergency ward ignored pleas for help, claims roti canai seller’s son

 

The health ministry has said it will investigate the death of Chandran Subramaniam, who sought treatment at Sungai Petani hospital. (File pic)

SUNGAI PETANI: The son of a roti canai seller who died of a heart attack in an emergency ward here said his father would still be alive if the hospital had not ignored repeated pleas for help over five hours.

Sathia Chandran, 29, said: “I kept asking for help, hour after hour. I was told that I have to respect the queue, that there were 17 people ahead of us.”

He told FMT his father, Chandran Subramaniam, 51, was clutching his chest and screaming in pain as they arrived at the hospital near midnight.

“A doctor gave my father some gastric medicine,” he said. “They said he had ‘angin’ (wind). My appa was still screaming in pain, there was no change.”

Chandran Subramaniam with his youngest daughter, Komathi, and wife, L Valy, 50. (Family pic)

Sathia said he pleaded with the nurses for help but was told the doctors were busy. He barged into a consultation room to ask for help. “They were busy talking among themselves,” he said. “I was scolded for coming in.”

It was only at about 5am that his father was rushed to the red zone. “An hour later, a doctor came and told me my father’s heart had stopped beating and they were trying to revive him,” he said.

Chandran was pronounced dead at 6.31am.

“What happened to my father should not happen to anyone. I want justice for him,” said Sathia, a lorry driver.

There are five children, aged 12 to 29, in the family. Three of them live with relatives in the Klang Valley while Sathia and his youngest sister live in Sungai Petani.

Lawyer Shamsher Singh Thind, who is acting on behalf of the family, has sent a letter of demand to the health ministry requesting an immediate investigation by an independent panel.

The ministry has said it takes the complaint seriously and would investigate it thoroughly. - FMT