Usually, about 50 private ambulances operate at the DMCH. But yesterday, just about 15-20 were in operation, said Din Islam Dina, secretary of private ambulance service association at the DMCH.
Ultimately, patients and their relatives bore the brunt.
Take the family of Siraj Ali. The 85-year-old died at the DMCH in the afternoon. His family was desperately looking for an ambulance to take the body in their village home in Comilla.
After waiting for over two hours, the family got a number of an ambulance service from a hospital employee, said his son Mofizul Islam.
At first, the driver refused to carry the body, but finally agreed when Mofizul offered Tk 8,000, which is nearly double the normal rate.
Following Saturday’s accident, all the ambulances left the usual ambulance stand in front of the DMCH. Parking near the gate is illegal, and so all the ambulances parked behind the DMCH and adjacent areas.
Brokers and some hospital staff members took advantage of the situation. They arranged the ambulance for the patients, allegedly making money out the the deals.
“We used to park our vehicles on the street, but we are afraid to do so after the after the accident. Also, police barred us from parking our vehicles nearby the hospital. But we are giving the service on a limited scale, parking our vehicles in adjacent areas,” said Din Islam.
Saidur Rahman, director (Hospital) of Directorate General of Health Services, dismissed reports that patients were suffering as a result.
“Private ambulances occupy the streets illegally and we cannot support it. There are ambulances of fire brigade and other state-run organisations, and people can take service from there,” he said.
Public hospitals, including the DMCH, rarely offer ambulance service, though the service exists on paper. The DMCH authorities claim that they have six ambulances, but sources said the hospital had only four — two of them not in operational.
So patients are forced to take private services, for which there is no regulations either.
About this, the DGHS director said the health ministry was working to formulate a policy to regulate public and private ambulance.
DMCH Director Brig Gen Mizanur Rahman said the authority had already served a show cause notice on the DMCH employees who are allegedly involved with the syndicate that controls the ambulance service there.
He suggested setting up of an ambulance stand for parking private ambulances near the hospital.
There should be rules that when approached for services ambulance drivers cannot decline, he said, adding: “The ambulance fare should also be fixed.”
Raghib Manzoor, CEO of CritiCare.Com and founder secretary general of Bangladesh Society of Emergency Medicine, said the government should formulate a policy for ambulance service.
Mohammad Momin Ali, president of Dhaka City Ambulance Owner Cooperative Limited, said there must a crackdown on the ambulance syndicate in state-run hospitals to ensure better services for patients.
“A list of private ambulance services along with the phone numbers can be pasted on all the state-run and private hospitals. Patients will then be able to choose which service they will take,” he said.
TWO BROKERS JAILED
Two men were sentenced to six months in prison by a mobile court for obstructing free movement of ambulance in the DMCH yesterday evening.
The two are Tanvir and Abir.
Sarwoer Alam, executive magistrate of Rab, said, “We heard that a patient died at the DMCH. The patient’s relatives hired an ambulance from outside the DMCH to carry the body to Sirajganj. But two brokers of private ambulance services barred the ambulance from entering the DMCH.
“The ambulance driver still managed to enter the hospital premises to carry the body. The two brokers then tried to stop the ambulance. A Rab team saw the incident and informed a magistrate about it. The magistrate then sentenced the two.”
Source: The Daily Star
