A woman from Maharashtra's Satara district is currently fighting for her life in a hospital in the United States after suffering critical injuries in a road accident. The 35-year-old woman, Neelam Shinde's family is urgently seeking the Centre's help to obtain a visa so they can visit her.
According to sources, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has taken up with the US the family's request for an urgent visa.
The US side is looking into the formalities for early grant of visa for the applicant's family, the sources said.
According to her father, Tanaji Shinde, Neelam had gone to the US for higher education and was in her fourth year at California State University, as reported by NDTV.
According to Shinde's family, she was involved in an accident on February 14 while out for an evening walk. It was a hit-and-run incident in which the car struck her from behind that resulted in severe injuries to her arms, legs, head, and chest, the family said.
However, the family did not learn about the incident until two days later, when her roommate informed them. Neelam is currently being treated at C Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, California.
"We were informed about the accident on February 16 and have been attempting to secure a visa since then, but we have not received it yet," said her father.
"She has gone into a coma due to a blow to the chest," the family told NDTV.
In the wake of her critical condition, the hospital reportedly sent an email to the family requesting them to come to the US as soon as possible.
The hospital needed permission to perform brain surgery on Neelam but could not proceed without a blood relative’s presence due to the severity of her condition.
NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule has on Wednesday, urged External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to assist the Shinde family in securing a US visa.
In a tweet, Sule tagged Jaishankar and the Ministry of External Affairs, saying, “Student Neelam Shinde has met with an accident in the USA and is hospitalized in a local hospital."
“Her father, Tanaji Shinde, from Satara, Maharashtra, urgently needs to visit his daughter due to a medical emergency. Tanaji Shinde has applied for an urgent visa to the USA and requires assistance,” she added.