Even a fraction of a second can make a difference between life and death of an accident victim. But it is irony that the ambulances rushing critically injured to the main referral hospital Bone and Joint hospital have to pass through haphazard parking, right in front of the emergency unit.The doctors in the hospital blame the administration for the issue. They told KNS that such mismanagement on the hospital premises shows the height of official apathy towards emergency patients struggling for life and even harder for making their way to emergency ward for timely treatment.“Almost every day the hospital receives serious patients and it is an established fact that accidents take place in different areas of Kashmir division and the ambulances keep ferrying injured to the hospital. However, both sirens of ambulances and cries of injured falls on deaf ears of the hospital administration as vehicles parked in the area of main gate create hurdles to enter ambulances in the hospital,” a senior doctor who wished anonymity, told KNS.
He blamed the authorities for their inaction. “If you come to the hospital at 10.30 you cannot enter. We have several times asked the contractor who has been allotted the parking slot in the hospital, not to park vehicles on the road sides in the hospital but he says that medical superintended has given him the full authority to use any space of the hospital for the parking slots,” he told KNS.The patients said that almost all parking slots happen to be across the way, from main gate to the emergency ward. “The first parking slot is in front of the main exit gate that has been locked. Therefore, all vehicles, attendants and hospital staff suffer a lot,” the patients told KNS.When contacted health Minister Lal Singh told KNS that he will look into the matter. “I will look into the matter and if I will find anything wrong the action will be taken,” he said.