What was meant to be a routine medical procedure for a broken leg has turned into a two-month nightmare for gold miner Amitesh Ram and his family in Toko, Tavua.
Today, the 38-year-old lies bedridden, severely underweight and in a vegetative state, requiring round-the-clock care from family members who say their lives have been turned upside down — and who are now pleading for answers.
“All we ask is answers,” said his elder brother Rimon Ram.
“Help us understand what really happened. Did something go wrong?”
Mr Ram was injured on November 13, 2025, while working underground at Vatukoula Gold Mine when loose rocks fell on his leg inside a mine shaft.
According to his family, he was taken to Tavua Hospital with what they believed were serious but manageable injuries.
“All we knew was that he had broken his right leg and there was a big cut on his left foot,” Mr Ram said.
“So we thought it would be a simple procedure — a cement plaster and some stitches.”
The following morning, November 14, Amitesh was transferred to Aspen Medical Lautoka Hospital.
“I went to Lautoka and the doctors told us they would conduct surgery on his leg. It took about 45 minutes and right after that, they told us he would be going back to Tavua.”
But it was after his readmission to Tavua Hospital that the family says everything changed.
“He started to have difficulty breathing and his temperature was going up.
“He stayed there until November 15 before he had to go back to Lautoka Hospital. By the time he went back, he was not waking up.”
Medical records provided by the family show Amitesh was admitted to Aspen Medical on November 16 and transferred to the Intensive Care Unit the following day.
Doctors diagnosed him with bronchopneumonia, a persistently low Glasgow Coma Scale, and a right tibia or fibula fracture from the mining accident.
The medical report paints a devastating picture.
“He has significant brain injury with no improvement in his consciousness and decerebrate posturing,” the report states.
“Although he has brainstem function, he is likely to have significant and irreversible bilateral cortical damage. There is a high risk of Mr Amitesh remaining in a persistent vegetative state.”
Just over a week ago, Amitesh was dischargede.
His condition has not improved.
Now confined to a bed in his family home, unable to speak or respond, his loved ones fear this may be the rest of his life.
“We did not expect him to come back home like this,” Mr Ram said softly.
Aspen Medical, in a statement, confirmed that its doctors had met with the family.
“Our clinical team has had a conference with the patient’s family, during which the family’s questions were addressed comprehensively,” the statement read.
“In line with our commitment to patient confidentiality, we do not discuss the specific details of any patient at any Aspen Medical-managed hospital in the media.”
Questions sent to the Ministry of Health yesterday remained unanswered.
For the Ram family, each day now is measured not in hours, but in hope — hope for clarity, accountability, and answers for a man who went to the hospital one morning with a broken leg, and came home silent, broken, and forever changed.
