GPHC insists ambulances must have free access to compound - Taxis, vendors to be removed

GPHC insists ambulances must have free access to compound – Taxis, vendors to be removed

Feb 01, 2020 News

The issue of vendors and taxis, hampering the free flow of ambulances into the compound of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), has proved to be a major issue. This problem has reached the level of the hospital board, which has taken a decision to have the taxis and vendors removed from the hospital’s surroundings.
This is in light of a number of persons, including doctors, and Emergency First Responders (EFR) filing objections with the Complaints Department. A senior official at the hospital told this publication that they have taken drastic steps to have the taxis and vendors removed. Police ranks at the hospital’s outpost have already been briefed on the situation.
When Kaieteur News visited the city hospital yesterday morning, the congestion of vehicular traffic in front of its New Market and East Street entrances was clearly evident.
Taxi drivers were seen parking their vehicles in front of the hospital entrance. While there, they were soliciting passengers. There were also persons selling snow cones and plantains chips among other items on the sidewalks.
According to hospital officials, even though the issue has been a prevalent one over the years, something has to be done to ease the congestion. Apart from this, the officials revealed that a new vendor takes up a spot at the hospital almost every day.
The officials even pointed out that the hospital’s complaints department has received complaints about taxi drivers telling ambulance drivers to wait on them to remove their vehicles before the ambulance can transport a patient into the compound.
“The Georgetown Public Hospital is a very busy place, the majority of the time there are ambulances and other vehicles bringing sick people to the hospital. So as a result of that we cannot have taxi drivers and vendors blocking the entrance into this hospital.”
Firefighters trying to go into the hospital’s compound in order to put out a blaze at the psychiatric unit experienced difficulty last Tuesday, as the entrance was blocked by taxis and vendors.

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