The wife of an Indian man who died after waiting for nearly eight hours to see a doctor at a Canadian hospital has demanded justice. On December 22, Prashant Sreekumar reached Grey Nuns Hospital in Edmonton complaining of severe chest pain and loss of vision in one eye.
At the hospital, he was checked in at triage and then made to sit in the waiting room.
Indian man kept waiting at hospital
Prashant, 44, waited nearly eight hours for a bed at the hospital — before collapsing and dying. (Also read: Elon Musk slams Canadian healthcare system over Indian-origin man's death: ‘As good as DMV’)
Hospital staff did an electrocardiogram (ECG), offered him some Tylenol for his pain, but kept him waiting even as nurses checked Prashant’s blood pressure.
After more than eight hours, when Prashant was finally called into the treatment area, he died within seconds in what was apparently a cardiac arrest, local media said.
“I thought he was fainting, but actually he was dying,” his wife Niharika Sreekumar told The Globe and Mail. “His body was cold. I tried pumping his heart, nothing. He never came back.”
Wife of Indian man says their children are grieving
{{/usCountry}}“I thought he was fainting, but actually he was dying,” his wife Niharika Sreekumar told The Globe and Mail. “His body was cold. I tried pumping his heart, nothing. He never came back.”
Wife of Indian man says their children are grieving
{{/usCountry}}Niharika has been left shocked and pained by her husband’s sudden death. She is also worried about raising their three children alone.
In an interview with CBC News, the Indian-origin woman said that her middle son cries every night. “His bed sheet was soaked in tears,” she said.
“My youngest got up and today he said ‘I want to go to Daddy’,” a visibly-upset Niharika said. “I told him, Daddy’s not coming back, baby. He’s become a star in the sky. He was such a good person that God has promoted him to become a star.”
Wife demands accountability
In a widely-shared video, Niharika was seen standing next to her husband’s body as she said, “All of Grey Nuns hospital have basically killed my husband.”
The Indian-origin woman is now demanding justice. She noted how she and her husband paid taxes in Canada, but did not receive help when they needed it.
“We are all Canadian citizens. We have worked and paid so much into the tax bucket in this country, and the one time Prashant needed medical help, he was not given it,” Niharika said in an interview with Postmedia. “I want justice for Prashant.”
(With inputs from PTI)