A pick-up truck driver prevented an ambulance from attending a very sick old lady following a minor scrape with his vehicle.
Despite the pleading of the ambulance crew who were on their way to get a very sick 74 year old woman, the pick- up driver told them they must wait for the insurance to arrive.
He said he didn’t want his standing with the insurance company to be affected.
Another ambulance was urgently called – but it was not in time to save Chusri Ornsamphan, 74, who died at her home.
Now the furious relatives want to confront the pick-up driver who they say acted disgracefully. They asked: “How would he feel if it was his relative?” Many called him the dregs of society.
Bang Bua Thong police had to deal with the angry mob at Chusri’s home when they found out about the ambulance and the pick-up. Chusri was lying dead at the scene as tempers flared.
Earlier they had had to attend the minor accident involving the ambulance driven by Natchaphon Sakhorn, 35, and the pick-up driven by 53 year old Chaiwat (whose surname is being withheld by police).
Natchaphon said that he had pleaded with Chaiwat to let him, a nurse and an assistant do their duty and go to pick up the dying woman.
There was just a bit of white paint from the ambulance on Chaiwat’s truck but he wanted to wait for the insurance to sort it out. The accident happened as the ambulance tried to squeeze past the pick-up and enter Soi Wat Lat Pla Duk off Kanchanapisek Road.
Natchaphon contacted his call centre who dispatched another ambulance but it was too late to save the woman who had been suffering from chest pains and difficulty breathing.
In the end police charged both drivers at the station with negligent driving and fined them 400 baht each. Chaiwat offered to pay both fines but Natchaphon declined saying he would pay his own.
The incident comes after it was revealed earlier in the week that 20% of patients die in ambulances while being rushed to hospital. Some of these occur because selfish drivers refuse to let them through.
On Tuesday a pick-up driver in Chiang Mai blocked off an ambulance with a dying person in the back because he seemed to have been upset about being overtaken.
As a westerner driving in Thailand, this is something I noticed a long time ago. In the UK it is second-nature to get out of the way of ambulances at the first opportunity.
But here it is a different story. Drivers appear oblivious to ambulances , just another eccentricity of driving in Thailand.
There is no certainty that the old lady would have survived but the truck driver should not get away this. There is no excuse. The insurance company was not necessary as Thailand has an abundance of superb paint sprayers who charge ridiculously low prices.
(Sources:Daily News and Thairath)