20 percent of critically-ill patients die in ambulances

Traffic congestion and unintentional blocking of ambulances by motorists were blamed for 20 percent of the deaths of critically ill patients while being rushed to hospitals by ambulances, said Dr Anucha Sethsathien, secretary-general of the National Institute for Emergency Medicines, on Monday.

Dr Anucha’s remark was in response to an incident widely shared in the social media in which an ambulance on the way to a hospital was blocked by a pickup truck whose driver also reprimanded the ambulance driver.

He admitted that, in many cases, the transport of critically-ill patients to hospitals was delayed by traffic congestion or by motorists who unintentionally or unknowingly blocked the ambulances, resulting in the deaths of 20 percent of the patients.

Several people questioned whether there actually was a critically ill patient in an ambulance or not, said Dr Anucha as he confirmed that there was a patient in an ambulance every time it sounded the siren to ask for a passage way and, in most cases, the patients were in serious conditions.

“Whenever you heard the siren of an ambulance, you should give way to the ambulance because you never know that the patient in the ambulance may be one of your relatives,” said the doctor.

Thai PBS

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