Kolkata: With Indigo flight schedules going haywire around the country, countless medical conferences now underway have run into rough weather, with doctors either reaching the venues late or failing to make the trips. Several conferences, including some in Kolkata, had their sessions severely curtailed since the speakers couldn't reach.
CMRI Hospital pulmonology head Raja Dhar received a flight cancellation message from Indigo at 1 am on Friday while his flight was scheduled to take off at 11 am. Dhar was on his way to Mumbai for a conference. "I didn't even see the message till 8 am and then rushed to book an alternative flight. Fortunately, I got booked on an Air India flight but had to pay 50% more than what I paid for the Indigo ticket," said Dhar. He added that several conferences he is scheduled to attend over the next fortnight are now uncertain.
Chief cardiac surgeon and director of Manipal Hospitals, Kunal Sarkar, is scheduled to travel to Chandigarh for a conference next week, which he now fears he won't be able to attend. "This is the season of conferences, and I am just back from one such meet in Europe. I will have to travel through Delhi, which seems impossible now. Several more conferences are scheduled over the next few weeks, and they will all be affected," said Sarkar.
Regional COO of Manipal Hospitals (East), Ayanabh Debgupta, was left stranded at Bagdogra airport on his way back to Kolkata from Siliguri three days ago. "Fortunately, I managed to book a train ticket the same evening," said Debgupta.
A significant number of patients from Guwahati, Dibrugarh, and Tripura, who visit BP Poddar Hospital for OPD consultations, have requested rescheduling of their appointments. "Additionally, two of our consultants who were in Mumbai for a medical conference were compelled to return via alternate train routes because of disrupted air services. This resulted in minor adjustments to their OPD schedules," said a BP Poddar Hospital official.
Several representatives from Ruby General Hospital were scheduled to travel to Bengaluru this week for a nursing conference but had to cancel it. "Several of our patients were expecting family members to visit them from other cities, but their flights got cancelled. Many spoke to them over video calls," said Ruby GM – operations, Subhashish Datta. Sarkar said he had a similar experience last week at the London airport, from where he was due to catch a connecting flight to Brussels for a conference. "A flash strike called by the airline left me and several others headed for Brussels stranded."