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Indian student Neelam Shinde critical after accident, family seeks urgent visa to US
Neelam Shinde, from Maharashtra, is in a coma after she reportedly met with an accident on February 14 in California.
The family of an Indian student, who is hospitalised in the United States after meeting with an accident, is seeking an urgent visa to visit her. The student, named Neelam Shinde, is from Maharashtra’s Satara district and her father, Tanaji Shinde, has requested an urgent visa due to medical emergency.
Nationalist Congress Party MP Supriya Sule raised the issue on social media and urged Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar to look into the matter and help Neelam’s family.
Through a post on X, formerly Twitter, Sule said, “Student Neelam Shinde has met with an accident in the USA and is hospitalized in a local hospital. Her father, Tanaji Shinde, from Satara, Maharashtra, India, urgently needs to visit his daughter due to a medical emergency. Tanaji Shinde has applied for an urgent visa to the USA and requires assistance.”
Neelam is currently in a coma and is critical after she met with an accident on February 14 in California, according to an NDTV report. She was hit by a four-wheeler, following which she suffered multiple fractures and serious injuries in her head and chest, the report added.
"We got to know about the accident on February 16 and have been trying for a visa since then. But we haven't got it yet," NDTV quoted Neelam’s father as saying.
Her father and brother also said that they last spoke to her on February 12, two days before the accident.
The family was informed about the accident through the hospital and Neelam’s roommates, her uncle Sanjay Kadam told NDTV. “The police admitted her to the hospital and her roommates informed us on February 16. They told us that she’s met with a huge accident. They (the hospital administration) took our permission to operate on her brain. She is in a coma right now and we need to be there," he said.
Speaking about the responses to her social media post, Supriya Sule told the news outlet that Indian students in the US have reached out to her to extend help for Neelam. She also told NDTV that while she hasn’t been in touch with the family personally, she got somebody locally to contact and ensure the family.
Sule also went on to express hope that the authorities will come to the family’s aid. “We may have political differences but I must put this on record that Mr Jaishankar is most helpful and very very empathetic when it comes to any student issue. My experience with the MEA (the Ministry of External Affairs) has been extraordinarily very very good. They always go the extra mile to help,” she said.
The MEA has taken up the matter, news agency ANI reported citing unnamed sources. US side is looking into the formalities for an early grant of visa for the applicant’s family, it added.
