Ambulance delay claims life of pregnant woman

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Bhubaneswar: A pregnant woman died at Capital Hospital here Sunday as the free ambulance scheme launched under ‘Janani Express’ to ferry emergency patients to hospitals failed.
A resident of Prasanti Vihar, M Shakuntala, under Infocity police station limits, who was married to M Basudev of Rajpur in Ganjam district, had come to her parents here for delivery. Sunday afternoon, she was rushed to the Capital Hospital by an auto rickshaw when she developed labour pains. Her brother M Purusottam alleged the doctors took around 20 minutes to declare her condition as ‘serious’ and instructed the family members to shift Shakuntala to SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack.
Subsequently, the family approached ‘Sahayata’ NGO members to call the 102 Janani Suraksha ambulance or 108 ambulance to shift the patient to Cuttack. Despite repeated calls by Sahayata activists, 108 ambulance did not turn up and the Janani Suraksha ambulance reached the hospital 40 minutes later.
Ironically, the ambulance driver refused to ferry the patient simply because the stretcher of the ambulance was not in order. When the relatives wanted to shift the patient without the stretcher, the driver informed the family that the oxygen cylinder was defunct.
Later, the driver called the ambulance of a private hospital but the doctors at the private hospital referred her to Capital Hospital after finding the patient dead.