New Delhi: Dr Harshad Wankhede and his team of junior doctors had met with a deadly accident on the Yamuna Expressway early on Sunday, while on their way to Agra to celebrate his birthday. Three doctors, including Dr Wankhede, lost their lives while another three suffered injuries. Dr Wankhede, Dr Yashpreet Kathpal (25) and Dr Himbala (25) had already died by the time police arrived at the scene.
Wankhede, the chief medical officer in the medicine emergency at AIIMS, was on evening duty on Saturday, which gets over at 8 pm. “We don’t know when they made the plan to go to Agra. We got the news of the accident in the morning. The survivors said it took nearly an hour for the ambulance to arrive,” said a senior resident doctor at AIIMS on the condition of anonymity.
Dr Abhinava Singh, Dr Cathreen Halam, Dr Mahesh Kumar and Dr Jitendra Maurya were injured. They were all rushed to a local hospital and then shifted to AIIMS Trauma Centre. “Dr Catherine suffered hip dislocation. She was operated upon by Dr Rajesh Malhotra, chief of the trauma centre and her condition is stable,” said an AIIMS official. Maurya had a fracture in one hand, Singh suffered a fracture in the spinet, Kumar suffered rib fracture, the official said.
“All of them are out of danger and stable. We haven’t tried to speak to them about the accident for now as they all are in shock,” said a senior doctor.
“Dr Wankhede was on night duty on Sunday. He was to take charge of the doctors on duty at 8 pm. But he is no more. We are in shock,” said one of his colleagues.
The doctors were travelling from Delhi to Agra when their car rammed into a truck while trying to overtake it in Mathura. The bodies of the deceased have been sent for a post-mortem.