A woman injured in a traffic accident in Labasa on Monday is expressing her dissatisfaction with the medical treatment she received. Aruna Devi, 55, was traveling with her granddaughter on a bus operated by a shipping company when it collided with a sugarcane truck in Seaqaqa, Macuata. She claims that the medical response after the incident was insufficient.
Ms. Devi, who has four children, was among five passengers injured in the crash. She believes they should have received immediate emergency treatment to manage bleeding and pain resulting from the accident. “The nurse at the Seaqaqa Health Centre told us to wait for the doctor to arrive before we could be treated,” she recounted.
“I was in extreme pain along with the other passengers and had to wait at the health centre with blood dripping from my mouth for at least an hour,” she added. She was subsequently moved to the Nasea Health Centre for further treatment.
“At Nasea, the nurse instructed me to take a ticket and wait in line for my turn,” she shared. Ms. Devi argued that common sense should have dictated that the injured were taken immediately to the emergency department for care.
Seeing the delay at the centre, she opted to hire a taxi and was admitted to Labasa Divisional Hospital, where she received treatment to clean and stitch her mouth injuries.
Attempts to reach the Divisional Medical Officer Northern, Dr. Tiko Saumalua, for comments were unsuccessful.
Regarding the accident, Ms. Devi, a frequent ferry traveler, mentioned this was her first experience with such an incident. She expressed no grievances against the shipping company or its driver, asserting that the accident was not their fault. Following the accident, Ms. Devi had booked a flight to Suva.
“I am still shaken from the incident and won’t be traveling by ferry anytime soon; I will prefer flying,” she stated. Divisional Police Commander North, Senior Superintendent of Police Kemueli Baledrokadroka, confirmed that they received a report of the accident on Monday.