Make way for the AMBULANCE

Make way for the AMBULANCE
It’s a pity that vehicles ferrying people in dire need of medical attention get stranded in Bangalore’s gridlocked traffic. Pushpa Narayan and Ambarish B analyse the problem


When the ambulance driver drove through the one-way on Vittal Mallya Road to rush a patient to the nearest hospital, little did he know that the traffic cop would fine him Rs 300 for a traffic violation.
Another ambulance was held back in the HAL police station for almost four hours for taking a wrong U-turn. It took some men in white coats to fight the police to get the chargesheet dropped. This happened only a few months ago.
Since then, nothing has changed. The police have told ambulance drivers that they would have to abide by all traffic rules, says Dr Venkatramana, who spearheads the Consortium of Trauma Care (CTC), an NGO that does rescue operations across the city. At least 75 per cent of deaths in ambulance are because of traffic jams.
“Ambulances have been made to wait for VIPs several times. It has been extremely difficult for our drivers to convince the police that the real VIP of the moment was the patient,’’ he says.
Sreenivas, an administrator at CTC, explains that its control room has a record of the number of times ambulances were delayed because of VIP visits. “There are times when the ambulances have taken the wrong side of the road to avoid waiting in jams. But the cops stop the ambulances and make them wait till the traffic is cleared,’’ he said.
Ambulance drivers have been told that they are misusing the privileges given to them.
“We are asked why we drive at high speed when there are no patients. Even if we tell that we were hurrying to pick patients, they don’t trust us,’’ ambulance driver Murugiah said.
Paramedical staff Venugopal agrees: “We know that someone is waiting for us. The control room calls us several times to check where we are. There are times when we have told them that we are stuck at the same point for more than fifteen minutes.’’
AMBULANCE ON 102?
The popular, much-advertised toll-free number for accidents that most people remember is 102. But who handles it? Not the city police, not major government hospitals but the BBMP.
Joint commissioner B V Kulkarni told TOI the facility has been recently tagged along with hearse services. While traffic police, who complain that the line is constantly engaged, were surprised by this development, BSNL authorities said they were not aware of it. Worse, doctors, including those working for the government, say the service has been poor.
The facility has ambulances and drivers. “Paramedics don’t travel in the ambulance. Patients’ attenders watch the patient suffer while the ambulances rattles to the hospital,’’ says a senior government doctor, who declined to go on record.
ROAD TO DEDICATED LANES
Amid fancy schemes for city traffic, our cops are blissfully unaware about safety aspects on roads in the vicinity of hospitals. Even in the ambitious B-Trac scheme, there is not even a mention about free flow of ambulances on city roads. The traffic (east) division has just taken up a study to prepare a safety report.
The problems related to traffic near hospitals and ambulances is endless — right from access to hospitals to pedestrian crossings. Senior police officials accept that besides public awareness about ambulances on roads, a lot more can be done to better the system. For instance, coordination between the hospital and traffic police will avoid unnecessary delay.
“Apart from the siren, a traffic constable at a signal junction wouldn’t know anything about the movement of an ambulance. A clear enforcement mechanism was never thought of in this regard. Each hospital can be involved in this process of smooth and rapid movement of ambulances. A safety report covering around 80 hospitals in the east division will cover all these aspects, including possible alteration of one-ways near hospitals and facilitating safe pedestrian crossings,’’ a senior police officer said.
The study was initiated after considering the delay the ambulances faced. The officer said in each traffic police station a sub-inspector would man at least five hospitals. The prime objective is to ensure free ambulance movement and evolve changes in signals at important junctions.
“Ambulances should get priority access. We’ll also communicate with the hospital authority for assistance. A nodal officer from their side will make things better. This is very important as each hospital has some usual calls, from some nearby areas, which will help us to design a pattern of movement,’’ he explained. The report will be completed by mid-August.
GOLDEN HOUR LOST IN TRAFFIC
Why does an ambulance take so long to pick up and drop a patient to the nearest hospital? Is it traffic, insensitive road users or callous traffic police? Don’t the screaming siren and flashing red light have any effect? A TOI correspondent took an ambulance ride to find out. (Since it was a test drive, there were no patients in the ambulance)
5.28 pm: Call received at 1062 from CMH Road 5.30 pm: An ambulance sets out from Pai Layout to CMH Road. Siren is set to maximum. 6 pm: The ambulance comes to CMH Road. The thumb rule is to shift the patient to the nearest hospital to rectify bone injuries. The destination is HOSMAT hospital. 6.01 pm: The road is crowded. At the first signal on CMH-100 Feet Road junction, the ambulance waits for almost 30 seconds. The driver is furious when a cab overtakes the ambulance. He begins to honk continuously. When he realises his efforts are in vain, he screams: “Move, we need to go to the hospital.’’ The cab refuses to budge. There are three cars ahead of us when we stop at the next signal at Trinity Circle on MG Road. The signals are not functional and a traffic cop is managing the traffic. “Can’t he let us go? He won’t, that’s the way they work,’’ says the driver. We are there for four minutes before we start moving again. 6.07 pm: We are on Residency Road. The bottleneck is at its peak. The ambulance hits a two-wheeler, an autorickshaw and a cab before it heads towards the end of the road. The traffic cop is a helpless spectator. 6.14 pm: We are on Magrath Road. The driver bangs the steering wheel twice in frustration. The honking receives sympathetic looks from other drivers. “Every time we reach this junction, it’s like hell. There is no way anything can be done about this. We only pray for the patients,’’ says the on-board paramedic. 6.16 pm: Outside Symphony Software Service, next to HOSMAT. The timer on the signal shows 90 seconds. “At times, we have debated carrying the patient on a stretcher from here. That would really be faster. We never dared to do that because the traffic is so heavy,’’ says the driver 6.20 pm: Finally, at the HOSMAT entrance.
PICK-UP TIME: 30 minutes DROP TIME: 20 minutes Distance covered: 4 km