In Delhi airport's world-class T3, AIIMS professor bleeds for 1-hr over lack of medical aid

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NEW DELHI: In New Delhi airport's world-class Terminal 3, a senior professor from AIIMS Jodhpur, severely bleeding from the forehead, frantically searched for medical aid for more than an hour, without any success.

Dr Prem Prakash Sharma, kept searching for the medical aid room at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), which was reportedly locked.

Incidentally, there's a lavish Medanta clinic inside the airport but both the professor and the airport staff were unaware of it.

The incident took place on December 19.

Fifty-seven-year-old Sharma, who works as an Assistant Professor (Biostatistician) at AIIMS Jodhpur, arrived at the Delhi airport's T3 terminal to catch an Air India (AI) flight to Vishakhapatnam.

"I was trying to take out my luggage from the cab's trunk when it fell on my head and I fell down. Seconds later, when I got up with the driver's assistance, I noticed that my forehead was bleeding. I tried to contain the blood flow with my handkerchief but it did not stop. So then I approached my airline's counter to seek medical assistance," Sharma told DNA.

The airline staff failed to find any medical assistance for him, who was still struggling to control the blood flow.

"No medical or paramedical staff was available nearby. Finally, the airline staff apologised to me. Later, a woman at an information counter, who had a first aid kit, helped me. Luckily, the bleeding had stopped by then," Sharma said, adding, "I got proper dressing and Tetanus injections after reaching Visakhapatnam."

The Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) authorities, meanwhile, claimed that sufficient medical facilities are available at the airport, including a Medanta clinic. 

Sharma, however, said that neither he nor the airline staff was aware of any such facility.

"Surprisingly, out of hundreds of airport staff on the floor, none came forward to offer help as we roamed around. It was shocking for me to learn that on an international airport like IGIA, no first aid facility could be availed. Fortunately, it was not a major accident. Had this happened to a tourist or an international passenger, it would have been an insult for the country," the professor said.