Margao: The family members of late William Coutinho are flabbergasted with the response of the 108 Ambulance service operated by GVK emergency Management Research Institute in Goa as they feel that William alias Willy would have been alive today if not for the failure of the emergency service.
“It is said that the golden hour is crucial and critical in case of a heart attack and in our case we had one and a half hour and the emergency team failed to act during that time,” said Willy’s brother who also pointed out that the ambulance did not have a stretcher that could be kept on the ground and once the patient was shifted on it the stretcher could be lifted up to fit on the higher stretcher. The main problem was that the defibrillator that was in the ambulance that had come from Quepem to Willy’s residence at Chandor was not functioning and the team did not know what to do next.
“Finally they decided to physically lift Willy on the stretcher and that is when he passed away. Willy is now dead and buried but the arrogant and lackadaisical attitude of GVK EMRI is astounding. When a family member called up 108 to complain they were given a landline number which was always answered by a person claiming to be the security guard who could not transfer the call to anybody,” added Willy’s brother.
When the Herald team member called 108 on Monday to enquire about the matter the response was that the office would get in touch since the number is registered. However, as there was no call, 108 was dialled again on Tuesday and this reporter was given a landline number 0832-2458042. Significantly five calls made to the number from 10:15 am to 5 pm on Tuesday had one elderly sounding man answering in Hindi and informing that he was the security officer who could not transfer the call. This reporter called 108 on Wednesday and when he was asked to call the same number he revealed his identity and only then some things moved.
On Wednesday afternoon one Jason Mathews, claiming to be the field manager, called and said he would check the matter and get back. But what is surprising is that neither did he call back nor did he pick up subsequent calls made to him and this is the way the GVK EMRI works and that is why it is not so surprising to hear people complain about the ambulance most often reaching very late to pick up the patient.
