She said that her family had great trouble in finding an ambulance which took a lot of time to reach their home. "Due to the strike, we could not get any vehicles to take our daughter-in-law to the hospital," she complained. She said even the ambulance they had finally arranged took hours to arrive our home. [break]
"My daughter-in-law began to feel labor pain early in the morning, but we could not get an ambulance at the time,” she added.
Likewise, Laxmi Upreti, a new mother who was discharged from the hospital, had to wait at the hospital premises for hours to get an ambulance to drive her to her home in Naikap Kathmandu.
Lokanthali-Kausalta road section of Araniko Highway. (Photo: Chandra Shekar Karki)
Her sister Tulasha said she and her other relatives kept made calls to several ambulances for hours but to no avail.
"We even requested the hospital to send its staff bus to drop us but were denied," she complained.
Kumar Lama of Gurjudhara, Kathmandu, was found making calls to hospitals and organizations that provide ambulance services. "I have phoned several hospitals and organizations for an ambulance but they say I´ll have to wait as their ambulances were busy," he said.
The authority at Maternity Hospital, said that about a dozen new mothers discharged on Tuesday were compelled to stay in the hospital in absence of vehicles to take them home.
"About a dozen discharged patients have been left stranded due to the strike," said Dr Shila Barma, Director at hospital. She said that several discharged patients and new mothers had to wait hours before they could get an ambulance to go home.
According to the hospital authority, 21 pregnant women ready to deliver a baby were admitted at the hospital on Tuesday, out of whom 15 gave birth. Director Barma assumed that dozens other pregnant women might have given birth to their babies at home on Tuesday because on average 70 deliveries took place at the hospital each day.
Pedestrians heading to their destinations at New Baneshwor. (Photo: Dipesh Shrestha)
The hospital said all the patients who were brought to the hospital arrived by ambulances as no other means of transport were available.
The hospital also said that very few patients visited the hospital´s Out Patients Department (OPD) service. "Normally, over 350 patients receive service from our OPD," Dr Barma said
Dr Barma said that several patients who are deprived of safe delivery service come to the hospital later with labor complications. She said that dozens of women, who were compelled to give birth at home on Tuesday, risk their and their babies´ lives.
Doctors at the hospital say that banda enforcers should think of the patients in need of medical services while organizing such programs.
Meanwhile, big hospitals like Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), Bir Hospital and Patan Hospital also said very few patients visited the hospitals compared to the normal days.
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