I would like to narrate my horrifying experience on an Air Ambulance. Recently, I had booked a flight through an agency called as EMSOS. The flight was booked only after reading the rosy assurances made on the website of the agency. However, my experience during the flight was well below my expectations and the agency virtually cheated by not keeping its commitments
1. The flight landed Raipur more than 3 hours after the scheduled time. We expected the fight to be at Raipur latest by 17.30 hrs with a tolerable limit of 1-1.5 hour. There was no clarity on the matter, neither from the side of Mr. Navneet Singh (Name also appears on the website of EMSOS) nor from Mr. Sanjay. Every time I had called up, I was told that the aircraft would fly from Lucknow in 15-20 min. The flight landed at Raipur airport way beyond the scheduled time.
2. Delay in arrival of the flight is not the only reason for my grievance. The two doctors of the air ambulance (of which one was a BHMS / BAMS) were found completely clueless in managing the emergency situation. The doctors did not carry any I-Card and were not in a position to interact with the local doctors and panicked.
3. Further, the doctors did not follow the set of standard operating practices and the height of non-sense took place when the doctors of the flight decided to take our patient out of Ramkrishna Care (local hospital). The discharge formalities were completed and the patient was moved out of hospital in an ambulance only to find that the doctors representing EMSOS did not have a key to open the oxygen cylinder. In an emergency situation, an O2 cylinder without key is absolutely useless, this even a layman would understand.
4. This was not the end of our problems. After reaching Raipur airport at around 20.30 hrs we were told by the captain and pilot that they could not fly due to bad weather. We had a serious patient on hand, whom we had shifted after taking discharge from the busiest hospital of our town, only to know that we could not fly. I think this was height of complacency. The doctors should have consulted the pilots before deciding to discharge the patient out of local hospital. We felt cheated and it was the most terrible and embarrassing situation we had to face. The patient’s health was further deteriorating and therefore we decided to move back to Ramkrishna Care. The ICU at the hospital was full and it was only after using our good office that the patient could be readmitted in the hospital.
5. The entire sequence of event left me dumbfounded and to add to my agony Mr. Navneet Singh did not even pick up my call that night. Every family member was agitated by the manner in which EMSOS conducted the entire task. This was certainly not expected from an emergency service provider and especially from Mr. Navneet Singh, who time and again told me that no other agency had a professional doctor.
6. Further there was quote difference of Rs. 40000, which is not settled till date by the agency despite my reminders.
The very purpose of arranging the air ambulance was defeated by the complacent attitude of the agency and so called doctors. The task was not taken seriously and I could not save the patient. EMSOS is a fake concept and I think the best way to approach this problem is to hire the aircraft directly from Air Deccan or Sahara instead of approaching such ill-equipped agencies.
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