I woke up with a great amount of pain in my right leg this morning; I couldn't walk properly nor bend my knee. I asked my mother to contact the ambulance to get me to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. She did that at 10:30 am; the response was "Ok ma'am, we will send one."
At 12:49 pm still no ambulance. When my mother called back 811 the response was, "We don't have one to send in your area." I told her call the fire service. The officer took my mother's information and said he'd call back. He did call, and divulged more realistic and detailed information and the reason why I did not get an ambulance within a reasonable time. The reason was this: "There are only three ambulances for the North West region and all three are out. You are number 15 on the waiting list."
Now tell me this: how can the Government spend money on a family day and not fix the important things that are really needed by citizens? Not all of us can go to a private institution and receive quality and immediate service. These are some of the things that need to be highlighted and dealt with. The healthcare system is poor; spend $4.5 million on that instead.
Kells Des Vignes
San Juan
