Lahore: Victims of red tape, ambulances going waste in LGH’s basement

Forced to hire expensive private ambulances, the poor patients at Lahore General Hospital (LGH) are being asked to comply to a complicated chain of command to get government ambulances, Pakistan Today has learned. The hospital has a fleet of 10 highly equipped emergency vehicles that remain parked in the basement of the emergency ward. However, due to red tape, the attendants are forced to hire private ambulances. “We want to shift our patient to another hospital and need a government ambulance, but the staff here has asked for money. What’s the use of getting a government ambulance if we still have to pay,” Muhammad Ishtiaq, an attendant at the hospital told Pakistan Today. A deputy medical superintendent asking not to be named maintained that running these ambulances need CNG and petrol and added that ambulances could not run on water. The LGH is one of the city’s major public health establishments catering to hundreds of patients on a daily basis. Per the official emergency registration counter, around 1,500 patients visit the emergency ward, while the figure is 2,000 for the outpatient department (OPD) everyday. “From amongst such a huge numbers, many need an ambulance to shift patients in critical condition to another health facility,” a nurse said. Another official in-charge of the ambulances dispelled the impression, saying the ambulances were meant for shifting only those patients who were recommended by the medical superintendent. “The ambulance service is free-of-cost, as the government pays of Rs 2.5 million per annum for the POL of vehicles and the hospital generators,” he added. However, 9 of these 10 ambulances were still parked in the basement, with the official explanation being they had just returned after dropping off patients to their destinations. Scores of private ambulances parked in the hospital parking were witnessed around the hospital, while drivers were offering their service to attendants pulling their patient on a stretcher out of the emergency. LGH Medical Superintendent Dr Hassan, however, denied the impression saying that, “The ambulance service is free-of-cost for patients recommended by me during the day, while the additional medical superintendent grants permission during the night shift”.