The driver of a car and a passenger had to be rushed to the Fort Wellington Hospital yesterday after the vehicle slammed into a bus shed at Lichfield, West Berbice around 6 pm yesterday.
They were treated and subsequently transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) in an ambulance.
The accident occurred after the driver, Donald Shepherd, 35, of Now or Never, Mahaicony swerved to avoid hitting a pig. He ended up crashing into a bus shed.
Reports are that Shepherd sustained a fractured hand, multiple injuries and swellings to his face and severe pain to the neck.
The passenger, Serpaul ‘Jerry’ Budram, 46, of Agriculture Road, Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara who appeared to have sustained a fractured rib was experiencing severe pain. He also had lacerations to the hands and shoulder.
Two other persons, a female who was sitting in the front seat and a male were lucky to have escaped without injuries.
Meanwhile, the patients had to wait about one and a half hours for an ambulance to arrive from the Mahaicony Hospital, located about 20 miles away to take them to the GPH.
Persons who were at the Fort Wellington Hospital at the time expressed outrage that the facility was not equipped with an ambulance.
When the Mahaicony Hospital was contacted, a driver was not immediately available, resulting in the delay.
Carol Joseph, a regional councillor, told this newspaper that “it is important for this hospital which sees about 200 patients a day to have an ambulance. The institution serves persons from Profitt to Ithaca” on the West Coast Berbice.
She said too that it is a shame that in cases of emergency patients have to endure the long wait for an ambulance to come from the Mahaicony Hospital.
Reports are that an ambulance that was bought for the Fort Wellington Hospital a few years ago is out of order and has to be replaced.
