LUCKNOW: For most motorists, it would have been another accident on a winding mountain road of Kumaon hills.For Major General Vinod Kumar Patra, one of the army’s senior most medical officers, it was a call to save a life.On Wednesday morning at around 11am, while travelling by road from Bareilly to Pithoragarh via Banbasa on official duty to his formation, Major General Patra noticed a crowd gathered around a young man lying motionless beside the road near Sukhi Dhang, between Banbasa and Champawat.At that moment, the senior officer, who heads the medical services of the Headquarters Uttar Bharat Area, put aside rank, protocol and became first responder.Bystanders had already assumed the motorcyclist was dead.“I examined him and found there was no pulse and no breathing. Looking at the circumstances, I felt the accident had occurred only recently. His eye pupil had not dilated, therefore I decided to give him CPR immediately,” Major General Patra while speaking to TOI.Without waiting for emergency services, the Major General knelt on the roadside and began chest compressions, while his buddy (assistant), Sepoy Baijnath Mardi, administered mouth to mouth rescue breaths. The lifesaving effort continued uninterrupted for about a minute-and-a-half.Then came the moment no one around had expected.“The victim’s heart started beating again. He resumed breathing on his own before vomiting, a positive sign of returning consciousness after resuscitation. Though he had sustained a head injury and remained semi-conscious, his vital signs had returned,” said the officer.Attempts to contact the 108-emergency ambulance service were unsuccessful due to poor network, following which Major General Patra coordinated with the Army’s medical establishment at Banbasa military camp. An Army ambulance, accompanied by a medical officer, was immediately dispatched. By then, local police had also reached the scene and joined efforts to assist the injured man.“The victim was stabilised and shifted by the army ambulance to the nearest primary health centre before being referred to a higher civil hospital for specialised treatment,” said the distinguished ophthalmologist who has completed 34 years of service in the military.“In such accidents, you never know how much time has passed before you reach the scene. But we had to try,” added the former commandant and chief instructor of the Officers Training College, AMC Centre and College, Lucknow, Major General Patra.Medical experts say immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation can double or even triple the chances of survival in cases of sudden cardiac arrest following trauma. In this case, the timely intervention of a highly trained military doctor before professional emergency responders arrived proved decisive.
