Heavy traffic, inconsiderate drivers among challenges ambulance drivers faced

GEORGE TOWN: Driving an ambulance may seem easy but at times you may be put in a situation where you are sending your loved ones for urgent medical attention.
In discharging their responsibility to save lives, ambulance drivers have to face all kinds of challenges, especially in heavy traffic as well as the inconsiderate attitude of some drivers who refused to give way.

Despite the various challenges faced, their focus is solely to save lives and to ensure the safe arrival of patients whom they are carrying at the hospital for treatment.

"Our focus is solely to save the lives of the patients we are bringing," Penang Civil Defence Department ambulance driver Norazrie Abdul Hamid told Bernama here.

Sharing his three-year experience as an ambulance driver, Norazrie, 40, said there were still some road users who did not understand the nature of their job and acted selfishly without any regards to those in urgent need of medical attention.
He said these inconsiderate drivers who acted as if they did not hear the ambulance siren not only hindered their job and delayed the time to reach the hospital but could also cause the patient to die due to late treatment.

"Some of them do not give way and follow us too closely from behind. That is very dangerous.

"Other factors are using the mobile phone while driving, switching on the radio too loudly and not being alert on the road," he said.

Norazrie said the most memorable experience for him was when he received a gesture of appreciation from the Japanese embassy here for saving a Japanese national who was seriously injured in the calf due to broken glass.

Apart from being courageous, he said, an ambulance driver must be competent in handling the vehicle because at one point, it needed to be driven at high speed.
Ambulance drivers are also required to assist the medical crew to treat victims and note down any relevant information to ensure the environment at the accident scene was safe, he said.

Meanwhile Penang St John Ambulance ambulance driver Lee Shin Ling, 28, said initially she felt a bit nervous and awkward in carrying sick passengers while ensuring their safe arrival at the destination.

But after driving an ambulance for eight years, she enjoyed her job and encouraged more women to take up the profession.

"Don't be scared. Its nothing. If we adhere to all road regulations, then our job is not stressful... I enjoy my job," she added. – Bernama