A west Suffolk business is leading a campaign to raise thousands of pounds for urgent medical care for a colleague on the other side of the world whose life is in the balance following a hit and run collision.
Business services firm Portcullis Market Access, based in Bury St Edmunds, has put nearly £20,000 towards the medical fees of their colleague and friend Dhilip Ravichandran, who is part of their web development team in India, but another £5,000 is needed by Friday.
Mr Ravichandran, who is married and in his 30s, was knocked down from his motorbike by a hit-and-run driver, who left him for dead on the streets of Chennai in India, on July 11.
The emergency services transported him to a local general hospital, where on arrival he was was bleeding from his ears, eyes, nose and mouth, had multiple internal injuries, bone fractures and a fractured skull. He was in a deep coma and having difficulty breathing.
A second hospital arranged a brain scan identifying severe damage and concern over vital lost time before treatment.
Thanks to the efforts of his colleagues, who paid the immediate fees for emergency care, he was moved to a third, well-equipped private hospital.
Tim Meadows-Smith, chairman of Portcullis Market Access, said the firm had committed close to £20,000, but realised they would need need to seek funds from others.
Only last week members of Suffolk Business Stars, a Facebook community with more than 3,000 members, stepped in to offer goods and services-in-kind for a silent auction before Friday.
Mr Meadows-Smith said: “If we cannot raise the money he will be returned to a general hospital where he will get nothing really other than palliative care, and it’s not enough to keep him alive.
“It brings home to you how lucky we are in this country that we have an NHS that provides the necessary life-saving health care for people when they most need it.”
He said unfortunately his colleague has been returned to the critical care ward after an operation on Monday did not go well, adding his condition was “very much touch and go”.
He said the £5,000 was urgently needed to pay for this week’s operation and critical care, and he would need a second operation in the next few days.
He said: “People have been very, very generous. When you consider the size of the donations from people who never met him, it’s very humbling.”
Mr Meadows-Smith, who is a member of the Bury, Stowmarket and Suffolk Chambers of Commerce, described Mr Ravichandran as a “very charismatic and likeable” person.
He had visited west Suffolk a number of times, and was actually the winner of the Christmas tombola for the Stowmarket Chamber of Commerce.
To support the fundraising appeal visit http://www.gofundme.com/zyq2adw, where more than £2,500 has so far been raised.
To find the Facebook page for the silent auction search for ‘One more day supporting Dhilip’.
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