An ambulance was three minutes away from reaching Valerie Mc Bernie-Taylor, the woman who died with unborn twins last weekend, when the request was cancelled, says chief executive officer of the nationwide ambulance service Paul Anderson.
Anderson, speaking to the T&T Guardian via phone, said an internal investigation into the family’s claims had been launched.
“According to our records, we received a call just before 3 am from the family and an ambulance was directed to their home,” said Anderson.
“However, 22 minutes after the ambulance left Siparia, the family called again and cancelled the ambulance.”
Anderson said the dispatcher on duty informed the family that the ambulance was en route, but they insisted they would take Mc Bernie-Taylor to the hospital themselves.
“The dispatcher told them the ambulance was already en route to their home, but they were adamant they would take her themselves. At that time of the day, the drive from Siparia to Point Fortin would have taken about 25 minutes, so we found it strange that they would cancel the service 22 minutes after their first call.”
Anderson said the Global Medical Response of T&T (GMR) service comprised 38 ambulances, but not all would be running at the same time. He cited servicing and upkeep of the vehicles as the cause of this.
Chief Executive officer of the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) Anil Gosine also said yesterday two ambulances were parked at the Point Fortin Area hospital the night Mc Bernie-Taylor and her unborn twin boys died.
However, these vehicles were not for trouble calls and are only used to take patients from one health institution to another.
“I did my checks and there were three ambulances assigned to Point that night, as we had considered the Borough weekend,” Gosine said.
“There are normally two ambulances there and that night there was two parked at the hospital throughout the night. But those ambulances are not to go to people’s homes and pick them up, that job falls under Global Medical Response of T&T.”