A serious lack in judgement by a Nanjing ambulance driver has led to the irreversible brain damage of a newborn baby. The baby, who was born at a hospital outside Nanjing city on 30 April, was diagnosed at the time with hypoxia, a lack of oxygen to the brain, at which point doctors ordered the newborn be transferred to the Nanjing Jiangning Hospital, that then dispatched the ambulance.
The ambulance driver sent by the Jiangning Hospital tragically decided to “take a shortcut” according to the child’s grandfather, who was in the passenger’s seat. After telling the driver he was going south, in the complete opposite direction, the grandfather was ignored while the driver continued; meanwhile, the child’s condition was worsening.
After the driver realised the mistake some time later, the grandfather then directed him to a hospital nearby, where the baby was given oxygen as the family arranged for a different ambulance to get them to the city. The 1 hour trip ended up costing the family 5 hours of anguish and irreversible brain damage.
After finally arriving at the Nanjing Children’s Hospital, doctors diagnosed the baby with pneumonia and brain damage due to a lack of oxygen. The baby has remained at the hospital in a critical condition ever since. Jiangsu TV initially reported on the story and have yet to hear a statement by either the driver or the Jiangning Hospital.
Despite a population of 8 million, the people of Nanjing have access to only 50 sanctioned ambulances. Stipulations by Chinese health authorities state that cities need to have one ambulance per 50,000 people. Nanjing falls short by 110.
The shortfall is made up by so-called “rogue ambulances”. As reported by the Epoch Times, an insider to the unofficial ambulance industry told Chinese news portal Sina, “I reckon that there are twice as many rogue vehicles as official ones”.
Such rogue vehicles support China’s lack of ambulances by offering similar services. While these black ambulances reportedly look the same as registered ambulances, and indeed come with some equipment, they also often come with untrained and unqualified staff.
In 2016, Beijing’s attempts to charge patients for their trips to the hospital perhaps may have been in part an effort to generate funding for more registered ambulances. At present, in Nanjing it costs ¥40 to ride the ambulance to the hospital within a 3km radius according to a local resident.
