For emergency response system in Delhi’s Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital, rules do not begin inside its premises. While there is a dedicated lane right outside the hospital for the passage of ambulances, the ambulances face hurdles from vehicles parked by hospital staff themselves.
Insensitive parking by the staff, including doctors of the hospital, leaves no space for the mobility of the parked emergency response vehicles.
This happens despite a dedicated parking space in the hospital premises just for its staff.
Each time the ambulances are required for service, the security guards are called from their regular routine and hurried off to identify the owners and request them to remove their vehicles from the path of the parked ambulances, thus delaying the response time.
On Monday, a reality check by Deccan Herald found three cars, all carrying hospital stickers, parked right behind the ambulances which were parked at their designated position. Because of this, only one of the four ambulances at the hospital was in a position to move at the call of duty.
“We cannot even push the cars to make way for the ambulances as they are in gear and steer lock mode,” said one of the ambulance drivers.
On Monday, when an ambulance was required, a guard was dispatched to find the erring doctor. Luckily he knew whom one of the cars belonged to and was quick in getting it removed.
The ambulance drivers do stop the offending owners even while they are parking at the critically wrong spots. But most often their requests fall on deaf ears.
“Moreover, some doctors are arrogant and do not come and cooperate despite repeated requests,” the driver alleged.
“We cannot complain either as that would amount to taking on the doctors themselves. So, we have the choice of either saving lives or saving our jobs,” said another driver.
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