#NewOn365 – A Day In The Life Of An Ambulance Driver

ambulance driver
Image used for representation only

 

The first thing that comes to mind in a medical emergency is the ambulance. However, contrary to what most of us think, the ambulance driver has a critical role to play in such emergencies. Unfortunately, the job of an ambulance driver is thankless, despite it being a crucial link while saving a life.

As part of our series on several interesting human beings who are much part of our daily lives, we spent time with this ambulance driver, and made an attempt to understand how he juggles his personal and professional life.

“There is hardly any working time, weekly offs or national holidays in this profession. We have to be on our toe,s round-the-clock as a little laziness may cost a  precious life,” says Ravikant Dubey.

“Since I also own and drive multiple ambulances, my cell phone is forever ringing, to fill monitoring the requirements at accident spots whee often the scenes are far from pleasant.

There have been days when I returned home heartbroken as I had to extricate a body stuck to the windshield of a car, or to deliver a corpse to the mortuary. The cries of the grieving relatives is  heartbreaking, but knowing that this is a part of my profession, I move on.

Over the past decade, I have come to terms with this facet of my work.”

Ravikant believes that people working even close to the medical fraternity have the hardest job for he has seen some tough and gruesome situations. Generally, there is an EMT (Emergency Medical Service professional ) to accompany him; At times, a driver of the ambulance is also a trained EMT or Paramedic after completing a certified course for the same,

He remarks that, unfortunately this profession also sees the off unethical elements handling this service.

“The siren on the ambulance helps us to get through traffic and reach the hospital on time but many also misuse it for their personal benefits. Even the Police cannot stop the ambulance to check for the patient and here is where these people take advantage.

The people of Pune are very supportive towards an ambulance,” he says.

For a driving enthusiast, this line may seem like an exciting high speed adventure, but it calls for more strict rules than what we see sitting inside our cars.

“We have to abide by all the road safety rules which include wearing a seat belt and using our turn indicators. A mere licence and driving test doesn’t fetch us this job. We have to go through medical scrutiny, knowledge and technique of road safety, a safety certified training programme, basic knowledge of first aid, physical fitness, routine care and much more.

“There have been times when I had to carry my acquaintances for medical aid and help. The picture at an accident spot or during a stampede, rail accident or natural calamity is even worse. The blood stained scene appears to us, like a parcel godown from where we have to assemble the dismantled parts of a human body and take it for postmortem.

I have held new borns to an 88-year-old man in our stretcher,” he explains.

Signing off, Ravikant says that although he earns his bread and butter from it, he wishes that no one in the city ever needs his ambulance.

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#Pune365 salutes the spirit of the ambulance driver and the medical fraternity working tirelessly to provide timely attention to our citizens. 

The views expressed in this article and those of the individual respondents and Pune365 does not necessarily subscribe to them.

 

#This is a fictional representation. Resemblance to any individual living or dead, is purely coincidental. 

Loveleen Kaur