The grief in the funeral room was palpable as Niharika Sreekumar, dressed in the traditional white of Hindu mourning, approached the microphone. Beside her lay her husband, Prashant Sreekumar, in an open casket. The 44-year-old accountant died on December 22 in the emergency ward of Edmonton's Grey Nuns Community Hospital after waiting eight hours for care.
A Life Cut Short and a Soul's Cremation
"If I am the body, Prashant is the soul," Niharika said through tears, her voice breaking with emotion. "I have not seen God, but I have seen Prashant." She told mourners gathered on New Year's Eve that while her life would continue, the funeral marked the end of her soul. In a powerful and heartbreaking statement, she declared, "Today, there's not only one cremation. There are two. This is not the contract I had with Prashant."
The tragedy began on the morning of December 22. Prashant shared chai with his wife before heading to the Grey Nuns emergency room with his father around noon, complaining of chest pains. Hospital staff performed triage, drew blood, and conducted an electrocardiogram (ECG). He was then sent back to the waiting room, where his wife later joined him.
An Eight-Hour Wait Ends in Tragedy
After an eight-hour wait, Prashant was finally admitted to the emergency ward. It was there, in the arms of his family members, that he collapsed and died. His death has resonated far beyond Edmonton, garnering significant media attention across Canada and in India, his country of birth.
Family friend Varinder Bhullar, who emceed the funeral service, addressed the systemic issues at play. "This is not a political platform, but Prashant is not the first person to succumb to the collapsed health-care system," he stated. Bhullar expressed the family's desperate hope that Prashant would be the last person to perish in an emergency ward without seeing a doctor, and that his death would serve as a clarion call for change nationwide.
A Search for Answers and a Political Reckoning
The family revealed that one of the reasons Prashant and his parents immigrated to Canada was its reputation for an excellent health-care system—a bitter irony given the circumstances of his death. Prashant had previously worked for Alberta Health Services before establishing his own accounting firm.
While Bhullar insisted the funeral was not intended to be political, the presence of numerous elected officials made the event a de facto indictment of the system. Attendees included former Alberta Liberal Party leader and emergency room doctor Raj Sherman, Conservative MP Tim Uppal, Ward Ipiihkoohkanipiaohtsi Councillor Jon Morgan, and a group of Alberta New Democrats: health critic Sarah Hoffman, Gurtej Singh Brar, and Jasvir Deol.
The gathering underscored how Prashant Sreekumar's death has become a symbol of a failing system, promising to fuel political debate and demands for accountability for the foreseeable future. His family's mourning is now inextricably linked to a national conversation about emergency care, wait times, and the very promise of Canadian medicare.
