Would The Health Ministry Like To Explain This Incident?

The big and tough-talking minister and senior officials of the Ministry of Health should try to explain this report from The Malay Mail. While they sound like hungry vultures out for a kill when referring to private hospitals and clinics, it seems that our health ministry hotshots are still unable to set things right in their own home base, the hospitals and their emergency ambulance services. The full report here.

PICTURE this — you have just been involved in a traffic accident and are lying bloodied by the road side. Kind strangers call for an ambulance but it arrives almost an hour later, leaving you in agony.

When it finally arrives, instead of being placed on a stretcher, you are made to suffer the indignity of walking to the ambulance and clamber up the vehicle yourself.

An unlikely story? Tell that to businessman M.Mahendran, who claimed to have witnessed the incident yesterday. Mahendran, 48, said he was driving past Batu 3, Jalan Ipoh, at 12.50pm when he saw the accident.

He said the victim, in his 20s, had beaten a red light in front of HSBC bank and rammed into another biker who was making a U-turn from Jalan Kasipillay. “The other motorcyclist only sustained minor injuries but the other man was covered in blood as he lay on the road,” he said.

Passers-by helped move the bloodied man and his Yamaha RX-Z to the side of the road. Mahendran snapped some pictures of the incident.

He claimed that some 10 minutes after the incident, three policemen from Dang Wangi police headquarters, all on motorcycles, arrived at the scene and radioed for an ambulance at 1pm. However, 30 minutes went by and there were still no signs of an ambulance, despite Kuala Lumpur Hospital being just several kilometres away. Instead, a patrol car arrived.

At this time, the victim, clad in leather jacket, Tshirt and jeans, was still lying down before several people told him to sit on the pavement. “There was a lot of blood as he had a head injury despite wearing a helmet. Police called for an ambulance six times before a patrol car arrived,” claimed Mahendran.

Mahendran said the victim also appeared to be evasive. “The only thing I found out was that the man was from Selayang but didn’t want to give his name and other details,” he said.

Mahendran said most of the onlookers, including him, were reluctant to take the man to the hospital themselves as they feared that he could be a snatch thief or even someone who was involved in a hit-and-run incident.

Two policemen talked to the victim before he was told to get into the patrol car. However, after getting into the car, the ambulance arrived at 1.50pm. “The ambulance personnel said they were short-handed and that caused the delay,” claimed Mahendran.

Incredibly, he claimed that no medical staff attended to the victim, who, despite his injuries, had to walk to the ambulance. “There was no stretcher for him or even a paramedic to treat his wounds. The driver told him to get out from the patrol car and get into the ambulance.

“I wondered what took them so long as HKL is just a few kilometres away. They were an hour late! This was an emergency.

“Imagine what could have happened if the victim was a pregnant woman or an old person? “I certainly hope that this would not happen again.”

***** Instead of poking their prying noses into the affairs of the private health sector, these Health Ministry mandarins should stop being busybodies and focus their energies on improving public medical facilities while they still can.
Image - Source