Where every second counts, BRTS is delaying ambulances

The eight-km long detour to access Lahore General Hospital (LGH) is proving deadly for scores of emergency patients, as the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) has not left a cut to the city’s major health facility, leaving many patients dead on the way, Pakistan Today has learnt.
As per hospital record, on an average 1,900 patients, many from far flung districts visit the emergency ward of LGH every day. What further makes it crucial is that patients with head injuries from not only across the city but even from other districts are brought to LGH, which is renowned for its state-of-the-art neurosurgical ward.
This makes it one of the busiest public sector health establishments in the metropolitan, while planners have completely ignored the plight of patients who have to take a U-turn from Yahunabad, 4 kms away from the hospital on Ferozepur Road, making it a total of 8 kms.
Traffic experts have proven in various studies that Ferozepur Road is one of the busiest arteries in the metropolitan, with traditional bottlenecks being Qainchi, Gazi Road and Chungi Amar Sadhu. The situation however has worsened ever since the start of BRTS, where traffic gets stuck for hours at a time. This has left scores of ambulances, carrying patients, either stuck in traffic or left to waste an extra 15-20 minutes in case of routine traffic, and up to an hour in case of traffic jam, putting precious lives in danger. The matter caught the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) attention which was told that the problem was solved by deploying an extra number of traffic wardens at Ghazi Road, from where ambulances could cross one-way to access the hospital. However, a Rescue 1122 ambulance driver maintained that an overwhelming traffic rush had proven it “counterproductive” because, this mostly resulted in a bottleneck.
“Patients from as far as Gujrat come to LGH. This patch of BRTS (in front of the hospital) is so deadly that many a patient had died in the ambulance before reaching the hospital. I’ve witnessed many such cases and it is miserable because our duty is to bring the patients as quickly as possible. A cut for ambulances should atleast be provided,” said Javaid Rabbani, an ambulance driver at LGH, for the past 22 years, told Pakistan Today.
Khaleel Ahmed, another driver of Rescue 1122 ambulances further said, “It is not only a waste of time, but of diesel too. Our DG had appealed to authorities to provide a cut to save fuel. Many a time the patient is on the other side and by the time we get there taking a turn from Yahunabad, he has expired. There has also been an increase in road traffic accidents since the start of the project because there are dangerous holes dug up all along”. The hospital emergency has surgical, medical, children, gynaecology, neuro and orthopaedic sections, with maximum load coming to surgical and medical wards.
“In an emergency situation, it is not a matter of minutes rather seconds that can save a patient’s life. Cardiac Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) in many cases can revive a patient’s heart if he or she is brought to the hospital in time. So it is a matter of seconds which can either save a patient’s life,” said Dr Madiha, who works in the medical emergency ward.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Hospital’s Director Emergency Rana Shafiq said that nuisance is generally gauged in terms of number of deaths, while in many cases patients died on the way and were never brought to the hospital.
“Besides, life saving the next most important concern of a doctor is to minimize damage. If a patient leaves the hospital alive but with a deformity that is also condemnable and many deformities exist because of a delay in reaching the hospital and yes, every second matters,” Shafiq added.
TEPA Chief Engineer Saeed Akhtar however said that an extra number of traffic wardens at Ghazi road had been deployed on the direction of the Lahore High Court, which had also given 45 days to TEPA to complete a six-lane traffic road at Chungi Amarsadhu, where a cut will also be provided after the completion of BRTS.
“The traffic is smooth and ambulances have no difficulty in reaching the hospital,” he added.
Rescue 1122 Director Emergency for Lahore Dr Ahmad Raza said a a cut near the hospital emergency would fare well for patients. “Saving lives is our top priority and we are facing problems in achieving it due to heavy traffic and non-availability of a cut on one of the city’s busiest roads,” he said.