School wasted an hour in taking Viraj to hospital: Family

Dinesh Parmar, grandfather of nine-year-old Viraj, has alleged that Shri Vallabhashram school in Sion where the boy studied took over an hour to admit him to Sion hospital.

Dinesh Parmar, grandfather of nine-year-old Viraj, has alleged that Shri Vallabhashram school in Sion where the boy studied took over an hour to admit him to Sion hospital.

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“The incident took place at 12.35pm outside the school, while the medical slip of Sion hospital shows that he was taken in at 1.40pm. The golden hour [the crucial first hour after an accident] was lost and if they had admitted him immediately, Viraj would have been alive.”

Parmar also found that Viraj had been taken to the school after the accident and given water. “They should have rushed him to the hospital after he started bleeding. Why did they take him back to the school?” he questioned.

Viraj’s father Devendra, 33, has alleged that he had warned the cleaner, who has been arrested, about the poor condition of the school bus two months prior to the accident. “I had complained to the cleaner that the condition of the bus did not seem good and the two rods on the window seemed loose. I told them to look after its upkeep or else some student may get injured. Who knew our son would be the one to pay for it.” Devendra, who works as a salesman at a cloth store in Dadar, further alleged, “The bus was in a bad shape as it had caught fire a few months ago.”

What has angered the Parmars further is that the school authorities have not visited them. Devendra told HT: “The principal came to the hospital but did not even speak to us.”