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This video shows the obstacles an ambulance driver faces every day in Erbil.
Drivers block their route, preventing the ambulance from passing. Sometimes, motorists compete to be the first car following an ambulance.
"As you saw, the drivers didn’t help us enough to arrive even a minute earlier, which is better for the patient. Any reason for the ambulance's delay can result in an unanticipated situation happening to the patient. The drivers needed to help more, instead of competing with the ambulance," Rudaw health desk manager Aras Bradosti explains at the scene of a medical emergency.
Paramedics rush to the scene of a nighttime car accident.
"We’re late because of the traffic lights and the busy roads. If we drove faster we might have hit 4 or 5 cars on the way. I put my head out of the window and screamed [for cars to move out of the way] then they cleared the road. Three cars were doing that. Each one may take 1-2 minutes, how long will it take [to reach the patient]?" paramedic Talib Ahmed explains.
The delay in ambulance arrival is so severe that witnesses resort to taking the injured to hospital by car - risking further harm.
"We contacted them [to tell them] not to move the patients until we arrive. We see that they moved the patients themselves. If his spine was fractured and they moved him, he could be paralyzed and stay in bed for the rest of his life," Ahmed adds.
Hogir Shakir, manager of Erbil Emergency services, asks the city's motorists to act quickly and conscientiously.
"We ask from people to help us when our ambulances go out. They drive fast so they can arrive at the incidents very soon. When they hear the ambulance noise, they have move their cars aside and clear the roads."
Drivers block their route, preventing the ambulance from passing. Sometimes, motorists compete to be the first car following an ambulance.
"As you saw, the drivers didn’t help us enough to arrive even a minute earlier, which is better for the patient. Any reason for the ambulance's delay can result in an unanticipated situation happening to the patient. The drivers needed to help more, instead of competing with the ambulance," Rudaw health desk manager Aras Bradosti explains at the scene of a medical emergency.
Paramedics rush to the scene of a nighttime car accident.
"We’re late because of the traffic lights and the busy roads. If we drove faster we might have hit 4 or 5 cars on the way. I put my head out of the window and screamed [for cars to move out of the way] then they cleared the road. Three cars were doing that. Each one may take 1-2 minutes, how long will it take [to reach the patient]?" paramedic Talib Ahmed explains.
The delay in ambulance arrival is so severe that witnesses resort to taking the injured to hospital by car - risking further harm.
"We contacted them [to tell them] not to move the patients until we arrive. We see that they moved the patients themselves. If his spine was fractured and they moved him, he could be paralyzed and stay in bed for the rest of his life," Ahmed adds.
Hogir Shakir, manager of Erbil Emergency services, asks the city's motorists to act quickly and conscientiously.
"We ask from people to help us when our ambulances go out. They drive fast so they can arrive at the incidents very soon. When they hear the ambulance noise, they have move their cars aside and clear the roads."
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