Patient dies as traffic blocks ambulance in 2-km ride to hospital

What should have been a five to 10-minute ambulance ride from Barangay South Triangle in Quezon City to the East Avenue Medical center took longer and proved fatal for the patient it was carrying.

While the ambulance was stuck on Tuesday morning's rush hour gridlock, the patient had a sudden cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead when they reached the hospital, according to Rio Lima, the ambulance driver.

"Dapat  5 to 10 minutes nasa ospital ako.  Nag-arrest yung tao hindi na umabot," Lima said in a report by Ivan Mayrina on GMA News' 24 Oras.

"Yung iba talaga matitigas ang ulo kahit naka sirena ka na hindi ka talaga pagbibigyan," Lima said.

In another incident, a post by Jing Zamora last month narrated their ordeal while traveling in an ambulance with her sick mother from Cabuyao, Laguna to General Trias, Cavite.

Counter-flowing motorists, occupying the lane of the ambulance have delayed their travel.  Zamora said it was 11 p.m. when they reached the hospital in Cavite —too late to save her mother.

According to Bong Nebrija of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the blue lane on major thoroughfares for motorcycles are also designated as emergency lane for ambulances

"Pag nasa blue lane ka, ang gagawin ng nasa blue lane they need to give way, they need to veer to the left, veer to the right yung mga nasa kanan at kaliwa naman nila needs to give way para itong mga sasakyan na to ay makasingit," Nebrija said.

"Marami kasi namimilosopo, hindi namin alam kung may laman yan o wala. No, we do not assume, we do not question kung may laman yan o wala. The mere fact na nagwa-wang wang yan, nakailaw yan, that is their way of telling you na emergency ang rerespondehan namin," he added.

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo pitched in an idea.

"They can use choppers for an  emergency flight.  We can always utilize the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) with respect to choppers," Panelo said.

"The secretary of Health as well as the secretary of DND should be coordinating with regards to that," he added.

Metro Manila's gridlock was the topic on Tuesday's hearing of the Senate Committee on Public Services chaired by Senator Grace Poe. 

The inquiry also tackled the proposal to ban provincial buses along EDSA to decongest it.

Officials of the Department of Transportation led by Secretary Arthur Tugade insisted the need for emergency powers to solve traffic woes.

Poe and several senators, however, said there are enough laws, ordinances, executive orders and regulations that can respond to the problem, if properly implemented. —LDF, GMA News