Anwara Begum was crying beside the body of her husband Rafiq Khan in front of the emergency gate of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) since around 3:00 pm on Tuesday. She needed an ambulance for carrying her husband’s body to Comilla. But there was no ambulance at the hospital gate.
“I am waiting here at least three for hours, but I didn’t get any ambulance,” the helpless woman told this correspondent at hospital’s emergency gate yesterday evening.
Victims like Anwara Begum are being faced untold sufferings from Saturday last due to absence of privately managed ambulance service at the largest public hospital in the country.
After a long wait, the relatives of Anwara Begum managed to hire a private car instead of an ambulance.
Sources said, following Saturday’s incident at the DMCH most of the ambulance owners suspended their operations fearing “police harassment”. Nearly 50-70 private ambulances operate at the DMCH every day. But yesterday, just about 10-20 were in operation, said Din Islam Dina, secretary of private ambulance service association at the DMCH.
Abu Bakar Siddique, Officer-in-Charge of Shahbagh Police Station, told The New Nation that they would permit 10 to 12 ambulances to park in front the hospital gate at a time.
DMCH Director Brig Gen Mizanur Rahman told The New Nation that the authorities 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.
