Pune: The Pune airport authority has verbally asked for an explanation from Aditya Birla Hospital on dereliction of duty by the on-call doctor who was absent when a senior Air India (AI) staffer suffered a cardiac arrest on Tuesday.

The doctor at the medical centre at the airport, run by Aditya Birla Hospital in Pimpri-Chinchwad since 2014, was supposed to be present inside the terminal building.

“The incident took place around 12 pm. Nitin Joshi (55), a Senior Mechanical Engineer of Air India, suddenly suffered a cardiac arrest. We took him to the medical unit which is placed near the arrival area. We found that the doctor who was supposed to be present all the time, was not available for duty.  Continued on P2

“We start calling him up, but his mobile phone was switched off. So, we took him to Jehangir Hospital by our ambulance,” a highly placed official, on condition of anonymity, said.

They have asked the hospital to give a proper reply about why the doctor was not available on duty.

Hospital’s response
According to the CEO of Aditya Birla Hospital, Rekha Dubey, “We have not received any notice from the airport authority as our contract expired in June 2017.” The senior official at the airport said the renewal is under process and will take some time, but a daily pass is still being issued to the Aditya Birla doctor, who is supposed to be on duty as of current situation.

AAI’s quick help a good gesture
Suhas Jadhav, Station Manager of Air India, Pune, said, “It was a good gesture that Airport Authority of India (AAI) provided an ambulance on very short notice to take Joshi to the hospital. The driver was very good and he reached Jehangir Hospital on time, which saved the life of our employee.”

“In 2014, Pune Airport did not have a medical unit. In my capacity as Chairman of Pune Airlines Operators Committee, I had taken up with Airports Authority of India the requirement of 24-hours well-equipped medical unit capable of providing critical care, manned by a doctor and an ambulance to be positioned at Pune airport,” he added.
Anil Shirole, MP and Chairman of Airport Advisory Committee said he will look into the matter.

‘Absence of doctor defeats the purpose’
Dhairyashil Vandekar, an aviation expert and analyst said it is a matter of grave concern that the medical unit at Pune airport was unmanned when emergency medical care was required by the airline staff. “It totally defeats the cause of having a medical unit at the airport if it has no doctor when a passenger or a staff requires urgent medical assistance,” he said.