Editorial
DMCH ambulance service
Coming 30 years too late!
IT is really shocking to learn that the DMCH, the premier hospital of the country, ran even without the most rudimentary of a facility namely an ambulance service of its own for the last 30 years! What is a shade more disconcerting is that the realisation of the anomaly has dawned so late. It is very difficult to even think of a modern hospital having no ambulance service.
But it comes not only too late but also as too little. Obviously, only four ambulances for around 24,00 patients seeking treatment at the hospital every day, are far from adequate.
Strangely enough, the need for having ambulance is not felt that acutely by public hospitals in the city. Most of them do not have the number of ambulances coming anywhere near the required mark. For example, the Mitford Hospital has had only three for nearly 800 patients seeking treatment everyday.
It is also not at all clear how the ambulance service, which once existed at the DMCH, could be suspended by the decision makers. The patients and their families had to pay a heavy price during those long 30 years. The hospital management could get away with just telling them that they had no ambulance of their own and that they had to rely on private ambulances which usually demanded a huge amount of money, what with their shoddy service. These makeshift ambulances are not equipped with the necessary oxygen support system and other facilities to take care of patients in critical condition. Yet, these so-called ambulances are what the patients had to rely on.
The ambulance story does indicate that the DMCH was, and still is, a happy hunting ground for outsiders. They control admission of patients, allocation of beds and also the ambulance service. It is not known why the hospital authorities allowed the middlemen and outsiders to have such a dominant role.
Introduction of ambulance service, though on a very limited scale, should bring about a positive change at the DMCH in some of its basic services. However, we believe the hospital authorities will go beyond mere symbolism and upgrade the ambulance service to a level where the patients will be truly benefited.
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