No CPR, India Officers Put Bar into Hand of Dying Colleague
The traffic police are yet to come to grips with the nitty-gritty of saving an individual suffering from a cardiac arrest. This became apparent on Thursday morning when they failed to save their own colleague, 37-year-old constable V Janardhan, who suffered a heart attack and collapsed during the morning parade at the City Armed Reserve (CAR) Grounds in Adugodi.
Police officials who were present at the ground told DNA that Janardhan collapsed at 7.45am, when a posse of traffic policemen were jogging after the parade.
Instead of calling an ambulance or administering first-aid for cardiac arrest, his colleagues presumed Janardhan was suffering from an epileptic fit and pressed an iron bar into his hand.
Another colleague poured water into his mouth (a strict no-no while dealing with patients who have passed out as it could choke them to death).
For more than 15 minutes, Janardhan lay on the ground at the mercy of his ignorant colleagues, DCP (traffic) BA Muthanna and three traffic ACPs. After considerable time had lapsed, and his colleagues who thought that Janardhan had collapsed owing to mere exhaustion began to realise the situation was grave, the stricken constable was shifted to St John's Hospital on Sarjapur Road. But he was declared brought dead on arrival.
Additional commissioner of police (traffic), MA Saleem, had recently said: "The traffic policeman is generally the first person to reach a road accident spot. One of the important responsibilities of a traffic policeman is to provide medical aid to the injured person by using the quickest means available. It involves providing first aid and shifting the patient to the hospital."
"Many a time, the traffic policeman is not sufficiently trained to handle medical emergencies. BGS Global Hospitals, through the training in basic life support for traffic policemen, is filling up this gap," he added.
However, Thursday morning's tragedy proved that the initiative has drawn a blank.
Janardhan was from the 1997 batch. He was transferred to Ashokanagar traffic police just four months ago from Adugodi jurisdiction.
His body was handed over to his family. Senior police officers, including commissioner of police BG Jyothi prakash Mirji, additional commissioners and DCPs visited Janardhan's house to pay condolence.
Janardhan was a bachelor and is survived by three brothers and three sisters. His parents died a decade ago.
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