Ambulance Strike at Dhaka Medical Leaves Families Facing Transport Delays
Bdbusinessdaily.com – Families seeking urgent transport for critically ill patients and deceased relatives at Dhaka Medical College Hospital are facing added hardship after private ambulance owners began an indefinite work stoppage on Tuesday morning, 27 October.
The action centres on a demand for a designated place to keep private ambulances at the hospital. With services suspended, some people have waited for long periods in search of transport, while others have used vans and trolleys when no ambulance could be arranged.
Parking dispute behind the stoppage
Private ambulance operators say their vehicles were previously able to remain inside the Dhaka Medical College Hospital premises. After Brigadier General AKM Md Farhad Hossain became the hospital’s director, the ambulances were removed from that area.
The owners later prepared a location beneath the hospital’s new building for parking. They cleaned the space and added a gate, lighting and CCTV cameras, but the ambulances were eventually removed from that site too.
Shahadat Hossain Sachchu of the DMCH Private Ambulance Owners Cooperative Society said discussions with the hospital administration had not produced a solution.
“We have discussed the issue with the director before, but no parking arrangement has been made for us. We hope the director will make arrangements for us.”
He said roughly 70 to 80 private ambulances work in connection with the hospital. Their role includes carrying patients to other facilities when required and taking people home after treatment.
For operators, the dispute creates a difficult practical situation. They say leaving vehicles outside the hospital exposes them to cases by traffic police if they park on public roads, while they are not being allowed to keep the ambulances within the hospital grounds.
“If we are not allowed to keep our vehicles inside a government medical college hospital, we have to park them outside. But traffic police file cases against us if we park on the roads. We are suffering from all sides.”
Sachchu said parking difficulties are not limited to Dhaka Medical College Hospital and also affect ambulance owners and drivers around other public medical college hospitals.
Hospital says there is no room for permanent parking
The hospital administration has made clear that it will not allocate permanent parking space inside the premises for private ambulances. Director Brigadier General AKM Farhad Hossain said the decision reflects an acute shortage of available space and the need to keep the area around the emergency department manageable for patients and visitors.
“We do not have enough space in the hospital. How can we arrange parking for them?”
He said ambulances may enter the hospital to bring in patients and may return when a patient needs to be collected. However, they cannot stay parked inside the compound after completing those trips.
The director said the policy is intended to reduce congestion near the emergency department, improve order on the premises and lessen the difficulties faced by patients and relatives. He also warned that law enforcement agencies could act against vehicles parked illegally on surrounding roads if the strike is used to pressure patients and families.
A room near the emergency department that had been temporarily used by the private ambulance owners’ association has also been closed. The hospital plans to use that space as a sitting area for patients’ relatives instead.
That issue has particular importance for people arriving from remote parts of Bangladesh. Many families coming to the hospital are unfamiliar with the surrounding neighbourhood and may have nowhere suitable to wait while treatment or transport arrangements are made. The director said the hospital does not currently have sufficient space to accommodate relatives properly, leaving some vulnerable to being misled while outside the premises.
Patients bear the immediate burden
The strike has placed the immediate strain on people already dealing with medical emergencies, discharge arrangements or bereavement. Ambulances are often needed when a patient must be moved to another hospital, returned home after care, or when a body must be transported to a family’s home.
With private ambulance services unavailable through the strike, some families have been compelled to look for other means of transport. Vans and trolleys have been used in some cases after ambulance searches proved unsuccessful. Such alternatives may be the only option available at short notice, particularly for people who do not know the area or do not have access to private transport.
The owners have not announced an end date for their programme. They say the suspension of services will continue until a parking arrangement is made.
The disagreement follows a demonstration held on Monday, the day before the strike began. A section of the private ambulance owners’ association formed a human chain at the hospital’s garden gate, calling for permanent parking facilities, fixed fares and other measures.
The standoff presents a narrow but consequential challenge: ambulance operators want a workable place to wait between trips, while the hospital says its limited grounds must remain available for patients, emergency access and relatives. Until a solution is found, families arriving at one of the country’s busiest public medical facilities may continue to face uncertainty at the point when rapid transport matters most.
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