An ambulance that was transporting a young patient in a critical condition was abandoned at the Supenaam Stelling on Monday after a loading clerk refused to let the vehicle on board the ferry.
According to Ray Ganesh, as he and his two brothers were returning home from the annual Mainstay Regatta in a friend’s bus, a speeding car collided with the back of the vehicle. The impact of the collision sent the bus sliding off the road into a utility post. The three brothers were all knocked unconscious as a result of the accident.
Ganesh said after he regained consciousness, he noticed his youngest brother, Reba, 12, still unconscious with a bloody face covered with glass. He also had a broken leg. He subsequently rushed the boy and his other sibling to the Suddie Hospital.
At the hospital, Ganesh found out that his brother’s wounds were critical and as a result he had to be transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital.
“We made arrangements with the hospital for us to leave with the first boat at 6 in the morning, so he [his brother] had to stay in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Suddie Hospital until the morning,” he said.
However, Ganesh added that when the morning came and the ambulance was being loaded with his brother and another patient, the hospital received a call informing that the boat had broken down and wasn’t in working condition and wouldn’t be leaving.
“My brother’s face was still swollen really badly and he was in a lot of pain and bleeding from his nose, so we all got worried and the driver for the ambulance called a security officer to check on the condition of the boat and the security said the boat was fine and was being loaded,” Ganesh said.
He pointed out that at this time the ambulance loaded two patients and rushed to the stelling.
When the ambulance arrived at the stelling and drove up to the loading dock, it was stopped by the loading clerk, who Ganesh identified. “The clerk told the ambulance driver that the boat wasn’t working and wasn’t going. But it was already loaded,” Ganesh said, while noting that at his point the ambulance driver reversed and consulted the security guard, who again confirmed that the boat was working. He explained that after the ambulance went back to the loading dock and tried to board the boat, the loading dock was pulled up and the boat left without them.
Ganesh said that his brother, who was in immense pain and bleeding profusely from his nose, had to wait 12 hours until the next scheduled boat.
Ganesh’s brother was eventually taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he was treated and stabilised. He is currently in the pediatric ward recovering.
Ganesh’s family is now seeking answers about why the ambulance had problems in the first place getting onto the boat, especially considering the state of the young patient.
