A surgeon in Bengaluru ran through traffic to reach his hospital in time to perform a scheduled surgery last month. On the morning of August 30, gastrointestinal surgeon Dr Govind Nandakumar was on his way to Manipal Hospital on Sarjapur Road, when he got stuck in traffic on the Sarjapur-Marathalli stretch. Govind, who was running late for a scheduled gallbladder surgery, got out of his car and ran the remaining distance of three kilometres. The surgeon, who has now posted a brief video of the run on his Instagram page, said it was easy for him as he exercises regularly.
Sharing his experience, Govind said, "In the middle of traffic, Google Maps showed that it would take 45 minutes to get to the hospital. Normally, it takes five to 10 minutes to reach the hospital through that route. I waited, but the duration didn't change on Google Maps and I had an important surgery scheduled for that morning besides several others during the course of the day. At that point, I just decided to walk. I run and workout, so I used that to my advantage, crossed over the street and covered the distance of 3 kilometres in about 45 minutes.”
Govind told The New Indian Express that he was able to leave his car behind since he has a driver. The doctor also told The Times of India that he didn’t want to wait for the traffic to clear up because his patients weren’t allowed to eat until after their surgery, and that he didn’t want to keep them waiting.
Recently on September 8, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that a legislation would be brought in by his government to form an authority to implement a master plan for Bengaluru to address traffic woes in and around the city. The authority, which would address traffic-related issues of Bengaluru and its surrounding areas, would also include the Railways and Metro Rail, Bommai had said.
(With IANS inputs)