No ambulance for 3 cops but Petrotrin saves day

The National Emergency Ambulance Service came under harsh scrutiny once again after Petrotrin’s ambulance service had to transport three injured police officers to the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH) on Wednesday because no ambulance drivers were on duty at the Siparia Health Facility. Senior police officers contacted the oil company’s Santa Flora office for assistance to transport PC Gaffar and WPCs Alexander and Caesar to the hospital after they were injured in an accident on the SS Erin Road, Siparia. This happened one day after Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan took the service to task and issued a directive that “no Government emergency ambulance, with their personnel,  should abandon any patient in distress.” The service has been under scrutiny after ambulance personnel refused to transport 21-month-old Akeil Simon and his mother to hospital. The toddler later died.

 

The three officers, attached to the Siparia CID, were in an unmarked police vehicle at around 1 pm when they received a report about armed men storming a house in Siparia. The officers responded to the report. PC Gaffar, who was driving, swerved to avoid a head-on collision with a white station wagon which was illegally overtaking around a corner. He lost control of the car which flipped over and landed in its hood. The injured officers were taken to the Siparia Health Facility. However, they were told no ambulance drivers were available to take them to SFGH for treatment. A senior officer, who requested anonymity, said they did not want to move the officers since they suffered head and back injuries. WPC Alexander, who was cut by flying glass when the windshield shattered, is warded at the hospital in stable condition.

 

Gaffar and Caesar were treated and discharged. “If it wasn’t for Petrotrin they would not have gone to hospital. We offered to drive the ambulance to take the injured officers to hospital. “They said they could not do that which we understood. But in a serious situation what would have happened?” the officer asked.  The officer said they were told one driver did not turn up for duty and another driver was due in for the 11 pm shift. South West Regional Health Authority CEO Anil Gosine said there was an operating ambulance at the Siparia Health Facility on Wednesday. 

He said he got a report from the facility manager who explained that when the officers arrived at the facility they were treated and Alexander had to be transported to SFGH.

 

He said the ambulance was on its way back to take the officer to the hospital when Petrotrin was called to assist.

He added: “She knew someone at Petrotrin and she called. The doctors saw her, she was in stable condition. She could have waited.  “There was an ambulance operating. We had an ambulance. It was never a case that we did not have a driver. The ambulance was its way back,” he added. Gosine said the ambulance was 15 minutes away from the facility when the officers left in the Petrotrin ambulance.