BENGALURU: Bengaluru seems like a heartless city when you see an ambulance stuck in a bottleneck with none of the vehicles around making way for it.
You cannot understand the pain of the people inside the ambulance unless someone you love faces a medical emergency, say the men who drive these vehicles.
According to data collected from eight ambulance services across the city, areas hardest to get through are Majestic, Whitefield, Chamarajpet and Koramangala.
Heavy traffic and narrow roads are to blame. “Around shopping areas in these localities, people park their vehicles irresponsibly, further narrowing the roads. The more popular the area, the worse the congestion,” says Krishnmurthy P G, manager, Sanjeevini Ambulance Service.
When the route has smaller roads, his company sends Omnis so that first aid reaches the victims faster.
Sometimes the life-saving vehicles fail to reach the patient in time, as it is very difficult to make way through the roads of areas like Thyagarajanagar and Shivajinagar, where cars and bikes are parked along both sides of the already narrow roads.
Prasad S, an ambulance driver, was once transporting a 60-year-old patient to the hospital. “He had suffered a massive heart attack and we had managed to pick him up in 10 minutes. But the traffic on the way back was frustrating,” he recalls. It took 28 minutes to cover 1.5 km.
“People take advantage of the situation and follow the ambulance to jump signals. They try to stay close to us and end up creating a traffic jam,” he adds.
Prasad says the traffic police are usually helpful. “They shout at people and make way for us.”
Manager at Nandi Ambulance Service, Raju M, says, “If we cannot reach the patient, we go to the nearest point and find a way to bring the patient to the ambulance.”
Unless it is a Sunday morning or afternoon, reaching areas around Majestic is always difficult, he adds. “Sometimes, I ask the technician to get down and ask people to make way for the ambulance. They look at us as if we are asking them for something unreasonable.”
Saddened by the plight of the patients they couldn’t save, many ambulance have drivers quit their jobs.
Raju (name changed), who used to work for a private hospital in Chamarajpet, says, “I was once taking a 43-year-old woman who had fallen down the stairs and suffered injuries. There was heavy traffic near Uma Theatre. The patient’s 15-year-old son was crying for help. Unfortunately, the woman died before we could reach the hospital.”
He now drives a pick-up truck for a garment factory. “This is much easier. No pressure, no golden hour,” he says.
The government introduced bike ambulances in April 2015 to help deal with traffic and narrow roads. But citizens are unaware of the service.
Anand M B, a degree student, says, “It has been a year since the service was launched. I travel around the city frequently, but I have never seen a bike ambulance on the road.”
Officials say bike ambulances will be dispatched based on the traffic density and size of the roads on the route.
S S Pervez, marketing manager, 108 Ambulance Service, says the city has 20 bike ambulances and the state 30.
“When we get a call, we send the bike ambulance to check on the patient and provide first-aid. If the patient still needs to be hospitalised, we send the four-wheeler,” he explains.
He adds that they have powerful hooters, sirens and a good relationship with the traffic police which helps them reach the patient quickly.
“Paramedics ride the single-seater bikes. We solve 60 to 70 cases a day using bike ambulances,” Pervez adds.
Raju demands a separate lane for ambulances. “When people honk and respond to the siren of the ambulance, it is usually for their own benefit. They move into the ambulance’s way to get out of signals, and end up worsening the jam,” he rues.