Uvicheka Linda, a Calmette Hosptial emergency line operator, left, and intern Nouna Vuch say they must deal with prank calls. By Pin Sisovann, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
08 December 2008
The Ministry of Health in November issued a ban on the “anarchic grabbing” of victims of traffic accidents, following the development of a system where witnesses earn money for calling private clinics that may be too far away to really help a victim.
The majority have abided the directive, which was followed by sharp words for ambulance operators from Prime Minsiter Hun Sen, but not all.
“For the safety of victims and avoiding the anarchic activities of grabbing customers, the ministry banned private clinics from sending their ambulances to take victims of accidents,” said Heng Taykry, secretary of state for the Ministry of Health. “The ministry will annul the licenses and shut down the clinics of those who violate this directive. And traffic police and concerned authorities are empowered to stop the ambulances.”
The directive is meant to address the growing problem of ambulance pay schemes to tipsters or traffic police, but Chhorn Nareth, chief of Calmette Hospital’s ambulance operation—the official operation of Cambodia—said the ban requires the cooperation of the public.
“The order has been effective,” he said. “There are only one or two private clinics that continue to send their ambulances.”
It remains to be seen whether the directive will mitigate some of the chaos at accident scenes.
Adding to the problem is that the official 119 number, which connects to Calmette, is often abused.
“Hello, is this the number for your ambulance?” a young man asks a 119 operator.
“Yes, this is the emergency line,” she says.
“One day, when I am sick, I will call you,” the youth says, hanging up.
“Hello, darling,” says an apparently inebriated caller. “Talk to me again. I want to listen to you. Do you understand me? I call you every day.”
Uvicheka Linda, a Calmette emergency line operator, said she has become used to conversations like these, which make up 80 percent of her incoming calls.
“They cursed me every day, old or young,” she said. “I think that if we could identify their number, it would be better, because our number is very important for people who are in danger.”
The majority have abided the directive, which was followed by sharp words for ambulance operators from Prime Minsiter Hun Sen, but not all.
“For the safety of victims and avoiding the anarchic activities of grabbing customers, the ministry banned private clinics from sending their ambulances to take victims of accidents,” said Heng Taykry, secretary of state for the Ministry of Health. “The ministry will annul the licenses and shut down the clinics of those who violate this directive. And traffic police and concerned authorities are empowered to stop the ambulances.”
The directive is meant to address the growing problem of ambulance pay schemes to tipsters or traffic police, but Chhorn Nareth, chief of Calmette Hospital’s ambulance operation—the official operation of Cambodia—said the ban requires the cooperation of the public.
“The order has been effective,” he said. “There are only one or two private clinics that continue to send their ambulances.”
It remains to be seen whether the directive will mitigate some of the chaos at accident scenes.
Adding to the problem is that the official 119 number, which connects to Calmette, is often abused.
“Hello, is this the number for your ambulance?” a young man asks a 119 operator.
“Yes, this is the emergency line,” she says.
“One day, when I am sick, I will call you,” the youth says, hanging up.
“Hello, darling,” says an apparently inebriated caller. “Talk to me again. I want to listen to you. Do you understand me? I call you every day.”
Uvicheka Linda, a Calmette emergency line operator, said she has become used to conversations like these, which make up 80 percent of her incoming calls.
“They cursed me every day, old or young,” she said. “I think that if we could identify their number, it would be better, because our number is very important for people who are in danger.”
7 comments:
Educate people please use exemple on the third country .
No one play with EMERGENCY 911 .
This directive creates more problem for the public because Calmet's ambulance staff are all corrupt. I am one of the victims of 119. Let me tell you the story. One of my foreign customer had heart attack in my shop. she fell down on the floor. Then, I call 119 of Calmet's hospital. They arrived 5 minutes later. However, what supprised me, you guess? They asked me (the owner of the shop) for $50 without negotiation. I had no choice because the condition of the patient is very critical. Unfortunately, her husband told me that she was dead on the way to hospital. IN CONCLUSION, THIS DIRECTIVE CREATES MORE CORRUPTION AND HEADACHE TO POOR CAMBODIAN PEOPLE, BECAUSE THERE IS NO COMPETITION.
Well in this case, people better off getting a Taxi rather than an Ambulance
Calmette and its ambulance are full of corruptions. The doctors other there refuse to treat a patient if he/she has no money to show first. Anyway, now the Faculté of Médecine has low moral and quality now. Put a monkey as student, it will be graduated as doctor, if we provide to the Faculté enough money for the monkey to be doctor. No wonder why all these fake cambodians doctors are so corrupted after... this is the vicious circle...
i think it's all competition. maybe gov't run services needs to become better as there are a lot of private competition out there. welcome to the free market economy, cambodia!
It'd be great if private hospitals' ambulance participated in emergency calling system. But the problem is those private hospitals behave in a very unhuman and unethical manner. To them, it's all about money. My friend has a relative who was in a traffic accident. The injured was picked up by an ambulance, heading to a private hospital where a doctor there operated on the patient although he knew he could not do it, so that the hospital could charge the patient the operation cost, then sent him off to Calmette. There were many more incidents like this. That was the reason why it is prohibited for private ambulance to pick up patients.
To 5:48am comment,
It's an unfortunate thing the way the calmette paramedic behaved. Maybe you should have called 119 and reported about him. Although Cambodia is plagued by corruption, there still are a small number of people who want to make things better there.
However, i think it's better to allow other hospitals to be able to pick up patients in emergency. But there also should be strict regulation and its implimentation so that they practice medicine whithin ethical boundary.
When Heng Taykry or a close member of his family is ill it is most likely that he will go Thailand or Vietnam for treatment. Because he knows his hospital staff are corrupt, and they might just give him a lethal injection like he used to order them to do to political opponents and Piseth Pilika, whose lives were unfortunately ended there.
Want to find the medical ethics for the local staff at Calmette? Check the dustbin for information.
The emergency services should be run by SAMU, whose staff are employed and better paid by an international medical agency. However, this issue goes beyond the emergency services. Most hospital employees are under-qualified, incompetent, and lacking compassion for their fellow human-being, except for their family members.
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