Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was at Chandigarh’s Post Graduate Institute of Medical Research for 90 minutes today. So was Sumit Prakash Verma — only that this was the time it reportedly took the 32-year-old, suffering from kidney failure, to reach the emergency section of the hospital as personnel deployed for the PM’s security sent his family from one gate to another. Verma eventually got there but didn’t survive.

In a statement later, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said it “is saddened at the death of a patient at the PGIMER during the visit of the Prime Minister... A full report has been asked for.”

The Verma family from Ambala Cantonment said they managed to get through the security cordon only after one of the security personnel got into their vehicle. Employed in a jewellery shop, Verma is survived by wife Richa and two sons, aged six and 12.

The Prime Minister was at the PGI from 11.30 am to 1 pm as chief guest at the institute’s annual convocation. The venue of the ceremony was Bhargava Auditorium, located opposite the emergency block of the hospital. A premier institute catering to the region, the PGI is visited by hundreds everyday.

The PGI, meanwhile, denied the family’s claim, saying no patient was denied entry from any gate, especially to the emergency. In a statement, the institute claimed Verma had been “brought dead” to the emergency OPD around noon. “The patient had a history of end-stage kidney disease. He had been on maintenance hemodialysis in a private hospital. Today he was taken to a private hospital in Chandigarh for hemodialysis, following which his condition deteriorated. When brought to PGI emergency, he was found dead.”

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