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Life is worth saving

By Sundus Zulfiqar
Fri, 01, 18

I was on my way to the passport office. I had recently got admission in an acclaimed university in the US on full scholarship......

COVER STORY

I was on my way to the passport office. I had recently got admission in an acclaimed university in the US on full scholarship. I was going to leave in two months. Since the day I got the news, I was on cloud nine, and my parents? To say they were ecstatic would be an understatement. If I was on a cloud, their feelings were out of this world. One week back, my father had called me to his study. We sat in silence for two minutes because he said he was trying to find the most wholesome words to tell me what an exceptional son I was. He told me he was proud, so very proud. His eyes were twinkling. It was beyond fathomable for me when tears escaped his eyes. That was the first time I saw him cry and I realized I was my parents’ only hope. I was at the center and their lives revolved around me.

They said a truck crushed my car, and I never reached the passport office. Instead, I was taken to the hospital where I was pronounced brought in dead (BID). The doctors claimed they could have saved me if I had made it there fifteen minutes earlier, but I didn’t. You know what I was worried about when I closed my eyes? My dad would cry.

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My husband held my hand. I was restless. My lungs were burning, I could not breathe. I asked him about the children. Did he call mother to come over? My pulse was rapid; my blood vessels were exploding. I could feel my head throbbing as if my heart was beating inside my head. How long? How long till we get to the hospital? He said something I don’t remember precisely. I heard him shout at the driver to drive faster, who said something about the traffic. I pressed my thumb in his palm and asked about the kids again. Did he tell them to lock the door? A drop fell on my hand. He was crying. I told him everything would be okay. The baby would be fine. I would be fine. I knew my pregnancy was complicated but that did not mean everything was not going to be all right. He did not hear me. I tried to say something again but it came out as a gasp. Then everything went black. The last thing I heard was, “Dead on arrival.”

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I had picked up victims from the blast site. They were severely injured. I had to make it in time to the hospital, or they would die. I drove as fast as I could, but for a full twenty minutes we remained stuck in traffic. Every car honked. I snuck my head out of the ambulance’s window and said, “Sahab, let the ambulance pass. The patient is in critical condition and needs to get to the hospital.” The man in front of me made room to let the ambulance pass but not a single car after that gave me way. Amidst all the honks, hands waved out of the car windows and abuses were hurled at each other. I could hear the passengers of my vehicle moan and cry. I knew that I would be blamed if I do not get these people to hospital in time. I looked around and saw that everyone was trying to get their cars ahead of the ambulance. I wondered how they were any better than the ones who kill without any qualms.

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God has blessed humans with a mind with immense capabilities. In this age, what is deemed impossible? Nothing. We travel faster than the speed of sound. We surpass gigantic mountains as we fly above and beyond them, and go deeper into the oceans than the species whose habitat that very water is. We have put an end to diseases that wiped out entire nations in the past. We make it snow in the deserts and erect buildings on water! All this has been possible due to the placement of a gelatinous substance, called the brain, in the skulls of human race by God Almighty and the diminutive neurons in it that connect with each other through electrical impulses. As we discuss the immeasurable potential of the brain, let this fact not evade us that the brain is dependent on the heart for its life. Mind alone, creates, but together with the heart it works miracles.

Philanthropists and humanitarians like Mother Teresa and Edhi are the symbols of love and selflessness. Their minds observed the plight of mankind but when their hearts worked along, they became angels of God on earth for some and inspiration to all. Similarly, in 1792 a man saw the predicament of the wounded soldiers. He realised that if first aid could be given to them in time their lives could be saved and complications from injuries prevented. His mind deliberated and when his heart beat with empathy, he invented the modern ambulance. He designed a horse-drawn “flying ambulance” to carry surgeons and medical supplies onto the field of battle during the Rhine campaign of 1792. His name was Dominique-Jean Larrey, a Frenchman who was Napoleon’s private surgeon. For the Italian campaign of 1794, Larrey used light ambulance carriages with stretchers to carry the wounded. In Egypt in 1799, the ambulances were powered by local camels. Advancing his invention, Larrey, in collaboration with fellow surgeon Pierre Percy, formed an ambulance battalion consisting of stretcher bearers and surgeons. This development and provision of prompt medical aid led to an increase in the confidence of Napoleon’s troops.

Ambulances are currently the pulse of the medical infrastructure, transporting patients swiftly to centers where they can be provided with appropriate aid and facilities. In Pakistan, apart from the government hospitals’ ambulance services, a number of private ambulance networks are in operation, the largest being that of Edhi Foundation. These ambulances carry patients for whom every minute is of paramount importance. As the ambulance service has advanced, so has the traffic on our roads. The increasing number of cars on the roads has made the situation bad, and the blatant disregard for traffic rules, even in major cities, has led to congestion on the roads. In this scenario, ambulances are frequently found stuck in traffic jams, resulting in wrecking the purpose of the ambulance service.

A study conducted by International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and its partners revealed that 66 percent of ambulance drivers are targeted to both physical and verbal abuse.3 Another research carried out by APPNA Institute of Public Health in cooperation with Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) shows that ambulances in Karachi are frequently stuck in traffic despite using sirens and loudspeakers.4 The same situation plagues the other cities of the country.

Progress towards solution of a problem starts with the identification and acceptance that we have one. The aforementioned researches are a laudable step in that direction. To answer the question as to what should be the solution, a simple and logical answer would be education, or more specifically health education. Approaches to health education, relevant in this context, are:

1. Legal or regulatory approach: Make laws so that all the drivers are compelled to give way to ambulances.

2. Educational approach: Usage of media, literature, seminars, conferences, internet, etc. to spread awareness among people. There is a dire need to inculcate this idea within the masses that it is their duty to give way to an ambulance. Religious leaders and people of authority and influence must be involved. Children should be taught from an early age about the sanctity of human life at homes and in schools.

This would ultimately help build a nation that does not require the law to tell them to make way for a vehicle that might be carrying a human on the verge of death.

Involvement of the government and the people is required in equal proportions to improve the current state of affairs.

In any crisis, the first impulse of a human being is to save himself. Save yourself, but do not endanger the lives of your fellow human beings by breaking rules. As your brain attempts to put itself first, give the steering wheel to your heart, let it drive you towards empathy and become humane. Now the question arises, what is empathy? How is it different from sympathy? When you sympathize with someone you try to understand their feelings but when you empathize you put yourself in their shoes and see things from their perspective. Would my actions be the same if I knew it was my father instead of someone else’s in that ambulance I did not let pass my car? Anyone can sympathize but to empathize you need to put your soul and heart into your actions.

Since our childhood, the loftiest virtue we are taught is saving human life. That is why people become doctors, paramedics, firefighters, lifeguards, so that they can protect what God made most sacred. Yet not everyone can do that, so they are given chances where they can make decisions; decisions that can result in either life or death for someone. That is the time their conscience needs to be above everything. So what if there is no law to tell them what should be done? Shouldn’t their own judgment be enough in certain situations? That is the time they either become life savers or life takers. Whatever they do, they set an example for others to follow.

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” - Mother Teresa

The above stories are all fictitious but none of them is far away from the reality. They are meant to tug at your heartstrings and make you think about what goes on inside an ambulance when it gets stuck in traffic because people like us do not care enough for a human life. Human life so special yet so fragile. Myriads of events, efforts, emotions and relations make up a human, an irreplaceable human, whose life effects other humans. Next time you see an ambulance, imagine the human that it carries inside, imagine him/her as someone having friends and loved ones then do as you would if it carried someone you knew, someone you cared for, someone you loved.

“And whoever saves one soul - it is as if he had saved mankind entirely.” - Al Quran (5:32)

Reference

www.discoveriesinmedicine.com