Indian-origin man dies after waiting for 8 hours for medical treatment in Canada

An Indian-origin man named Prashant Sreekumar died in Canada's Edmonton after waiting for at least eight hours to get treatment post a suspected cardiac arrest. After he complained of severe chest pain, he was rushed to a hospital. Sreekumar was the father of three children and had told his father, Kumar Sreekumar, that he could not bear the pain and described the same to hospital staff. Yet, all that he received was some Tylenol and an ECG, following which he was told that there was nothing of significance.

The incident occurred on December 22. Prashant was taken to the Grey Nuns Hospital in southeast Edmonton. There, the 44-year-old was first checked in at triage before being asked to sit in the waiting room, Global News reported. After a while, his father, Kumar Sreekumar, arrived at the hospital. "Papa, I cannot bear the pain," Kumar said his son told him while waiting for medics to treat him.

Even after repeatedly telling them that the pain was unbearable, the hospital staff did not do an ENG, and rather, he was told that there was nothing of significance. The hospital staff gave him some Tylenol before asking him to continue waiting. During the long waiting hours, nurses would check his blood pressure.

"It went up, up, and up. To me, it was through the roof," Kumar told Global News. "After sitting maybe 10 seconds, he looked at me, he got up and put his hand on his chest and just crashed," his father said.

A video showing Prashant's wife narrating the hours-long ordeal and providing her statement following the incident has surfaced on social media. She could be heard saying that Prashant's blood pressure reading had shot up to 210, and yet he was only given Tylenol.