82-year-old Air India passenger suffers brain stroke after denial of wheelchair

The 82-year-old woman passenger with restricted mobility suffered a brain stroke and has been in ICU for the past three days after a fall at Delhi Airport on March 4 allegedly after Air India failed to arrange a wheelchair booked for her forcing her to walk.
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An 82-year-old woman passenger with restricted mobility suffered a brain stroke and has been in ICU for the past three days after a fall at Delhi Airport on March 4 allegedly after Air India failed to arrange a wheelchair booked for her forcing her to walk.

The incident occurred on March 4. The octogenarian, Raj Pasricha, and her family arrived at Indira Gandhi International Airport at 3 p.m. for a 5 p.m. flight to Bengaluru. A family member approached the assistance desk outside the airport and waited for a wheelchair for nearly 45 minutes, but with none in sight, the senior citizen lady and her grandson started walking to the airport entry gate from the car drop-off point, her granddaughter Parul Kanwal narrated to The Hindu in a telephonic conversation.

“The staff at the desk expressed his helplessness and we were told that they were arranging wheelchairs as per availability and we were on a waiting list. Our flight departure time seemed to bear no significance or urgency,” she explained.

As the lady proceeded towards the check-in counter she fell “face flat” causing head injuries, a bleeding nose, and a cut on her upper lip and tongue.

“At this point my husband and I approached Air India staff, including those at the check-in counter, for medical aid and none was forthcoming. We were instead told to walk to the medical room and seek first aid ourselves. After this a wheelchair was arranged and her boarding expedited, but she continued to bleed throughout the flight,” Ms. Kanwal said. It was only once the injured passenger and her family arrived at Bengaluru airport did a doctor attend to her and administered stitches.

Next day, she was taken to the Indian Air Force Command Hospital in Bengaluru where scans revealed a brain stroke, or chronic lacunar infarcts.

The Hindu has requested Air India for a comment. The story will be updated with their response.

The family has written to Air India CEO Campbell Wilson, as well as filed a complaint with the DGCA and the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Last year, an 80-year-old passenger booked with Air India collapsed and died at Mumbai airport after a flight from New York as he was forced to walk a distance of nearly 1.5 km from the boarding gate to the immigration counter because a wheelchair booked for him was not available. The DGCA also imposed a penalty of ₹30 lakh on Air India for the incident, and issued an advisory to all airlines to ensure that adequate number of wheelchairs were available for passengers who require assistance.