Patients suffer at Dhaka Medical as ambulance owners’ strike continues

A strike called by the Private Ambulance Owners’ Association at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) entered its second day today (28 October), leaving patients and their relatives struggling to arrange transport.

Patients were waiting for ambulances outside the hospital’s emergency department today.

Shamim Gazi, brother of Shaheen Gazi, who was admitted to the hospital’s new building after suffering a stroke, said, “Doctors advised an MRI scan for my brother. We decided to go to a private clinic in Lalbagh but were unable to find an ambulance.”

“We have come from Savar. We have been waiting for 30 minutes, but we cannot find an ambulance,” he said.

Rezaul Karim, who was waiting outside the emergency department, said his sister was injured in a road accident on Mawa Road the previous day.

After treating her, doctors at Dhaka Medical College Hospital advised the family to take her to the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (Nitor), commonly known as Pangu Hospital.

“We tried for two to three hours but could not arrange an ambulance. In the end, I called 999, but that did not help either,” he said.

He added that a driver of a government ambulance stationed outside the emergency department eventually offered to take his sister to Pangu Hospital. The family is now using that vehicle to transfer her.

Another person, Shafik Ahmed, alleged that syndicate-controlled activities were taking place across the hospital, including in ambulance services.

He claimed that drivers were preventing patients from using ambulances brought in from outside.

“Patients are being held hostage as part of their protest. The government should break up this syndicate,” he said.

Mohammad Emon Ali, general secretary of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital Private Ambulance Owners’ Association, confirmed that the strike was continuing.

“If our demands are not met today, the Dhaka Metropolitan Ambulance Owners’ Association will call a strike from tomorrow,” he warned.

Private ambulance operators began the strike yesterday, demanding permission to park their vehicles on the premises of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.