Staff Reporter :
Patients at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) on Monday faced untold sufferings due to lack of medical ambulance.
While visiting the hospital, it has been found that patients had to wait for hours even after their release from the hospital for ambulance. “We are waiting for more than three hours, but no ambulance is yet in sight to carry my son,” one Idris Ali of Tongi, told The New Nation yesterday.
His son Masum Miah was admitted few days back after injury from a road accident.
Later, one relative of Idris Ali hired a private car to carry Masum from the hospital.
Like Idris Ali, relatives of many patients shared the similar experience that they had to face due to lack of ambulance service.
A syndicate, which mainly run private ambulance service to carry patients and dead bodies from the hospital, has halted their service following Saturday’s untoward incident at the hospital.
“They have declared an unofficial strike leading to the crisis in ambulance service,” an official of the hospital told The New Nation yesterday.
“Even, they are preventing to enter other private ambulances in the hospital worsening the situation further,” he added.
Roksana, who came from Munshiganj for treating her sister, said, I had to come to the hospital by a CNG run auto rickshaw following halt in private ambulance service.
“I requested one ambulance owner of my area to carry my sister, but he refused to do so referring to current anarchy in private ambulance service at the DMCH,” she said.
Only government ambulances were seen carrying patients at the hospital on the day without entry of other services, sources said.
Brigadier General Mizanur Rahman, Director of the Hospital, could not be reached for comment.
