The family of a Freeport man, who was left lying on the ground for over four hours waiting for an ambulance after being knocked of a feed tank, are calling on the Ministry of Health to add more ambulances to its fleet.
Balraj Jawahir, 32, of Arena Road, Freeport, was on duty at El Chico farm in Freeport around 2.30 pm on Monday when the auger of a feed truck broke off, knocked him off the top of a feed tank, and sent him flying some 15 feet to the ground.
The auger cut a five-inch gash on the side of his torso.
His younger brother, Avinash Jawahir, told the T&T Guardian this morning that despite numerous, frantic calls to the local ambulance service, no ambulance was ever dispatched.
"We called multiple times and they told us not to move him ourselves," Avinash said.
"We waited for hours with him on the ground and they kept telling us they had no ambulance available to send out."
Contacted for comment this morning, chief executive officer of Global Medical Response of T&T (GMRTT), Paul Andrews says a thorough investigation into ‘systems issues’ has to be done before he can say what went wrong.
Andrews said GMRTT was contracted by the Health Ministry to provide ambulance services in 2013 and currently operates a fleet of 42 ambulances.
The incident follows a recent case where a man collapsed outside the San Fernando General Hospital. He was pronounced dead on arrival after being taken by a city coporation vehicle.
The ambulance service said it responded within 27 minutes but by then the patient had been removed.
