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Lagos State Ambulance Point on Bajulaiye Road in Shomolu Local Government Area of the state has been turned into private water selling out by a resident of the area, PUNCH HealthWise can authoritatively report.
Our correspondent gathered during a visit to the ambulance point on Thursday that the state government has abandoned it for over five years now with many residents of the area lamenting that they never felt the impact of its establishment.
PUNCH HealthWise, during the visit, sighted water vendors, popularly known as ‘Mai Ruwa’ inside the ambulance point that now has two big Geepee tanks laden with water. The tanks were sited in a basement with a borehole beside it.
Our correspondent also gathered that aside from the fact that the private water outlet managed by its owner simply identified as Baba, was selling water to ‘Mai Ruwa’, the outlet was also supplying water to the operators of a car wash located near the ambulance point.
Speaking with our correspondent, one of the water vendors, Mr. Musa Ibrahim, said he had been in the business for several years, adding that he had been buying water from Baba for over four years now after the borehole was drilled.
He said they love buying water from Baba because the ambulance service point offered them shields whenever they were tired and needed a rest.
Some residents of the area who spoke with PUNCH HealthWise, however, decried the attitude of the Lagos State government for abandoning the ambulance point.
They noted that the area usually records emergency cases resulting from road accidents due to heavy vehicular movement and lamented that if the ambulance point was functioning, it could have helped provide invaluable services to victims of road accidents.
Mr. Moshood Moboloji, a resident and printer in the area, told our correspondent that the ambulance point functioned scarcely during the administration of the former Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode but had never functioned under the current administration led by Mr. Babajide Sanwo- Olu.
Moboloji said, “Since the ambulance point was established here under the Ambode administration, we have never benefited from it for one day. You know that this place is densely populated and busy and we also have emergencies here. We have had cases of road accidents without help coming to the victims.
“We have also recorded cases of pregnant women falling into labour and the ambulance is nowhere to be found to convey them to the hospital. Last year in June, there was a case of an accident on Bajulaiye Road between a commercial bus-danfo and an okada rider.
“The car broke the two legs of the okada rider and everybody gathered to help him. It took a lot of time for the good Samaritans that came to rescue the okada rider who was bleeding profusely to get a vehicle that they used to rush him to that National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, for treatment.
“I doubt that okada rider would survive the accident because he lost a lot of blood before he was eventually taken to the hospital for treatment because even after some people brought some pieces of clothes to tie the legs, he was still bleeding. But if help had come to him fast, he wouldn’t have lost a lot of blood.
“The ambulance point didn’t impact any life, it just functioned for a few months after it was established. Even the ambulance that they brought was not well equipped to respond to emergencies.
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