Shillong, Feb 22: Healthcare provision in Meghalaya is once again under the scanner and for all the wrong reasons after the death of Shillong MP Ricky AJ Syngkon last week.
While playing football in Mawiong on Thursday evening, Syngkon suffered a suspected heart attack. According to testimony of those present, an ambulance was rung for but took time to arrive at the venue, which is located on the Shillong-Guwahati highway. While waiting for the emergency vehicle, some attempts to give Syngkon CPR were made.
On arrival of the ambulance, Syngkon was first taken to the nearby Mawiong Community Health Centre but no doctor was present at the government facility, forcing the ambulance to take the patient to the private Dr H Gordon Roberts Hospital in Jaiaw.
According to the hospital, the MP was brought in at 7:40pm and died at 8:42pm.
In heart attacks, there is the concept of the “golden hour”, a critical 60-minute window after symptom onset where immediate medical intervention can minimise damage to the heart and improve chances of survival. The extra time it took to transport Syngkon from Mawiong CHC to Jaiaw may have been detrimental to his chances.
While a CHC is not at the same level of a hospital, it is just one step lower in the healthcare pyramid. The absence of a doctor at Mawiong CHC on Thursday does not appear to have been a one-off, with reporters who went there on Saturday evening also being told that the doctor had gone home.
On Friday, Principal Secretary in the Health Department, Sampath Kumar, said that he was seeking a report into the Syngkon’s treatment, while Health Minister Wailadmiki Shylla said that he was, in turn, waiting for a report from his officials.
Horror stories involving state-provided healthcare are nothing new in Meghalaya. That one of the victims was a Member of Parliament makes this particular situation a unique one.
