Patient dies as ambulance breaks down in EDSA gridlock
By Jeannette Andrade
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 18:11:00 12/19/2007
Filed Under: Diseases
MANILA, Philippines -- The horrendous traffic in EDSA virtually killed a 65-year-old doctor, when the ambulance bringing her to a Quezon City hospital broke down Tuesday in the middle of a vehicular gridlock along the highway.
Dr. Amelia Dela Cruz, the owner of the A. De la Cruz Maternity Hospital in Cavite City, had suffered a heart attack and was aboard the hospital ambulance en route to the Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City when they got stuck in a traffic jam along EDSA Magallanes in Makati City.
Upon reaching the intersection of Edsa and Kamias Road at around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, the ambulance radiator overheated and the vehicle conked out with De la Cruz, fighting for her life.
Concerned bystanders immediately attempted to help out by flagging down vehicles to transfer the patient, who was starting to convulse and turn blue.
Members of the media, whose press office was just across the place of the incident, tried to seek the help of police personnel from the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) Kamuning Station 10 in bringing the 65-year-old doctor to the hospital, but were rebuffed.
The police officers claimed that they did not have the keys to their mobile patrol unit and could not bring the patient to the Philippine Heart Center.
A computer operator of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Ireneo Baligod, driving an Isuzu Tamaraw passed by the ambulance and saw the incident. He stopped without being asked, offered to take the patient to the hospital.
Unfortunately, although Baligod was able to bring the doctor to the Philippine Heart Center, the emergency room staff were unable to revive her and she was pronounced dead at around 3:30 p.m., an hour after the ambulance broke down.
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