Cops, not medical aid for man who faints in Metro station

KOLKATA: How caring is the city''s Metro authorities? Perhaps less sensitive than this vibrant city would expect it to be. Why else would a young executive lie unattended an hour after he fell unconscious at Esplanade Metro railway station?
The only ''help'' the Metro higher-ups offered was to plead lack of medical equipment and a prompt call to the police.
Arindam Dutta, a young executive working with a market research company, started feeling sick the minute he disembarked from the Dum Dum-bound Metro at 11.15 am at Esplanade station.
He was about to collapse when commuters Bimal Bhowmick and Raja Chatterjee held him back. By then Dutta was unconscious.
Bhowmick, Chatterjee and other commuters frantically tried to get medical help, but there was no response from the Metro authorities. Bewildered passengers started making calls to the patient''s residence from his cellphone.
They then went up to station master A.K. Ghosh, who admitted dearth of medical facilities, even first aid, at the station. However, the Metro ticket checkers came to Arindam''s help. They brought a stretcher and carried him to the station master''s room. Biswajit and Shivraj — two young checking staff did their best to revive the patient as he lay unconscious on the floor.
Even as efforts were made to revive Arindam, the Metro higher-ups did a strange thing. Instead of calling a doctor from the Metro Bhawan, they called in the police. M. Rahman, an inspector came and waited till Arindam recovered.
And as soon as Arindam regained consciousness, the inspector did as expected. He started asking questions when the patient was badly in need of a doctor. Arindam lay there on the stretcher till 12.25 till his friends came to take him for a check up.