Ambulance used for

Ambulance used for personal benefit

From Pos Kota

On July 20, 2003, about a month after she gave birth to a baby, my wife had a hemorrhage. I took her to a community health center in Kembangan district, West Jakarta. The health center asked me to take her to a hospital in Cengkareng.

Unfortunately, the ambulance could not take my wife to the hospital because, according to the driver, the health center chief planned to use it to go to a wedding party somewhere in Taman Mini, East Jakarta. After he'd been contacted, he told the health center officer in charge that I'd better take a taxi.

It was really an ironic situation: A patient urgently needed an ambulance but the ambulance could not be used because the health center chief intended to use it for his own benefit.

Here's a question for the chief: Wouldn't it look rather strange to turn up at a wedding party in an ambulance? It could lead to a misunderstanding, couldn't it?

N. NUGROHO

Jakarta