(Trinidad Express) Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan promised “harsh decisions” after an ambulance service ignored the cry for help from a young mother and her ailing baby.
Khan, in a media release, said he was “disgusted” to learn of the “inhumane behaviour” of the emergency medical technicians (EMTs) who, on Friday, told mother Stacy Simon that a corporate policy prevented them from helping her 21-month-old baby.
Baby Akeel Simon was later pronounced dead on arrival at the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH).
The child, who had Down’s Syndrome, had three holes in his heart and an enlarged liver. He began to run a high fever on Friday which was his clinic day at SFGH. While on the way to hospital with his mother Stacy Simon of Happy Valley, Erin, the car they were in encountered mechanical problems.
The mother flagged down another car which fought its way through heavy traffic to get to the hospital. It was on the way there, she saw an ambulance with a blue stripe coming and tried to get help. She said two persons in the ambulance told her it was against policy to help persons like her on the road.
“What foolish policy are they talking about?” Khan asked in a telephone interview.
“It is obvious that no human feelings existed in these EMTs. An ambulance is an ambulance, they are supposed to help,” he said.
Khan said the actions of EMTs in recent times may hint at a deeper issue with the ambulance management company.
“It’s almost as if they are on a work-to-rule,” he said.
Khan recalled a similar incident when music icon Pat Bishop collapsed in August last year.
“There was another issue with the ambulance then too,” he said. Bishop collapsed during a high-profile meeting at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA), a short distance from the Port of Spain General Hospital. Minister of Planning Dr Bhoe Tewarie had then said it took more than 20 minutes for an ambulance to arrive and another 20 minutes before Bishop arrived at the hospital’s emergency department.
