The chartered van is not designed for transporting patients, and the space inside the van is small.
DARO
Hospital had three ambulances but for the past four months, we have to
charter commercial vans, or ‘van sapu’, to send patients to Sibu
Hospital as the three ambulances have malfunctioned and cannot be
repaired.
This problem has been there for the past two years. We
were promised new ambulances since a year ago but until now, there is
nothing. Those three ambulances are already old and the hospital has
already requested for new ambulances from the Healthy Ministry and the
Health Department but to no avail.
The ambulances broke down
almost every day until four months ago when they were unable to be
repaired any longer. They should have been replaced when they started to
malfunction, not until they were completely unable to be repaired.
Instead, we were given a new hearse (Van Jenazah) and a Toyota Fortuner
vehicle for official use but no ambulance. We know that nearby hospitals
such as Mukah Hospital has brand new ambulances.
So, for the past
four months, we were forced to charter commercial van and boat to
transfer patients to Sibu Hospital, which takes about three hours on bad
road conditions. We have also requested to borrow ambulances from
nearby hospitals like Sibu Hospital, but, until now, there is nothing.
Daro Hospital is a small district hospital without any specialists and
what we can do here is limited, so some patients need to be transferred
to Sibu Hospital for further treatment.
What are the problems?
1.
Commercial vans or boats are not designed to transport patients. There
is no power supply inside as some of the equipment need constant
electric supply like blood pressure monitoring, IV drip machine and
suction machine.
2. The commercial van driver is not trained to
transport patients compared to ambulance drivers, who have undergone
some courses like defensive driving.
3. Most of the time, it takes
time to find an available commercial van, and there is a delay in
transferring patients to Sibu Hospital. In fact, there was a time where
there was no commercial van available, and we had to charter ambulances
from Rejang Medical Centre or KPJ Sibu Specialist. In cases like this,
there will be a significant delay in transferring patients because it
takes three hours from Sibu to Daro and another three hours from Daro to
Sibu, so patients will only arrive at Sibu Hospital after six hours.
4.
What if those commercial vans get involved in an accident? Remember
that those commercial vans are not public or government transport. Is
their life guaranteed in case of an accident? There will be doctors,
nurses and medical officers inside the van to accompany the patient –
what will happen to them?
5. There is no bed inside the van,
unlike in an ambulance. It is very uncomfortable for the patient and the
space inside the van is small.
6. The chartered van does not have
a siren and it gets very hard during emergencies and traffic jams, and
we have to wait just like everyone else.
Truthfully,
Concerned Citizen
