A 44-year-old Indian-origin man has died in Canada after reportedly waiting for more than eight hours without receiving treatment at a hospital emergency department in Edmonton.
The man, identified as Prashant Sreekumar, was taken to Grey Nuns Community Hospital on December 22 after experiencing severe chest pain while at work, according to a Global News report.
Hospital staff reportedly registered him at triage and then asked him to sit in the emergency waiting area.
Family members say he remained there for over eight hours without being examined by a doctor.His father, Kumar Sreekumar, later arrived at the hospital and said his son was in visible distress.
“He told me, ‘Papa, I cannot bear the pain,’” he recalled.
Doctors suspect that Prashant Sreekumar died due to cardiac arrest. He was a father of three, and his sudden death has left the family devastated.
The incident has sparked public outrage and renewed concerns about long waiting times in Canadian emergency rooms, especially for patients reporting potentially life-threatening symptoms such as chest pain.
Healthcare experts and community members are now calling for urgent reviews of hospital protocols to ensure faster medical response times and prevent similar tragedies in the future.