I visited India for the first time last year, in early March. Spent 2 weeks traveling by train through the north of India, and then planned on settling in Rishikesh for 1 month or so.
Rented a scooter and began to experience India roads directly (i.e. not as a passenger in a taxi/tuk tuk). Was chaotic, but certainly doable if you paid attention; that is, until a giant black bull cow came charging through oncoming traffic directly at me.
I steered sharply to my right to avoid getting killed, which was effective in terms of saving my life, but not so effective in terms of preserving my ability to walk. Lying in the sweltering hot afternoon sun with a complete fracture of the hip, a few kind locals dragged me to the side of the road, where I lost consciousness, leaving this body/mind for some eternal realm that I cannot describe.
Eventually I came back to this world and an ambulance arrived, whereupon I was refused surgery at the local hospitals (3 in total) and summarily shipped down to Delhi on an 8-hour hell ride, with the young drivers smoking hash and pumping the loudest Indian hip hop to provide some ambiance.
Really, it was the stuff of movies, but it was real life, and somehow I came through it all -- am more or less back to normal, walking, just with a bunch of metal in my hip.
In hindsight the entire experience was like India: extreme, full on, and holding nothing back -- hang on, it's going to be a wild ride :)
This happens quite frequently because hospitals tend to fear repercussions.
First, they fear the overzealous police who might ask for bribes because they admitted an accident victim.
Second, they fear mob violence. If even a small thing goes wrong people tend to go on a rampage - breaking stuff and harassing people.
Third, lack of awareness and general apathy of law. Most cases in India tend to run for years altogether. So, while there is a legal framework for such cases many hospitals are not aware of it or they just want to avoid making court trips for years.
Once an accident victim is taken to the hospital a legal case has to be made. It is called medico legal case. And the hospital needs to inform the nearest police station. This to ensure that no accident gets brushed under the rug. Police then has to do an investigation into the matter and find out the exact details.
if the hospital doesn't draw up a mlc document then they can be sued for malpractice. But if they do and these things go to court they have to make multiple appearances to provide details of the case.
This fact is used by the police to pick up bribes.
The interesting thing is that even hospitals are not above trying to extort people. MLC filings are supposed to be free but hospitals like Apollo etc charge extra 2-5k to admit a MLC case.
Traveling alone, risk of surgery too great to take on.
The last and largest/most modern hospital in Rishikesh agreed to do the surgery, provided the US Embassy signed off on it, or a family member was present. The latter wasn't possible, and neither was the former ("we don't authorize surgery for our citizens").
Rented a scooter and began to experience India roads directly (i.e. not as a passenger in a taxi/tuk tuk). Was chaotic, but certainly doable if you paid attention; that is, until a giant black bull cow came charging through oncoming traffic directly at me.
I steered sharply to my right to avoid getting killed, which was effective in terms of saving my life, but not so effective in terms of preserving my ability to walk. Lying in the sweltering hot afternoon sun with a complete fracture of the hip, a few kind locals dragged me to the side of the road, where I lost consciousness, leaving this body/mind for some eternal realm that I cannot describe.
Eventually I came back to this world and an ambulance arrived, whereupon I was refused surgery at the local hospitals (3 in total) and summarily shipped down to Delhi on an 8-hour hell ride, with the young drivers smoking hash and pumping the loudest Indian hip hop to provide some ambiance.
Really, it was the stuff of movies, but it was real life, and somehow I came through it all -- am more or less back to normal, walking, just with a bunch of metal in my hip.
In hindsight the entire experience was like India: extreme, full on, and holding nothing back -- hang on, it's going to be a wild ride :)