One enduring mystery in Pokhara and Kathmandu is why patients opt for taxis over ambulances when presenting to hospital.
FoNAS are studying this behavioural oddity and will soon publish our findings.
FoNAS studies have shown long delays in patients presenting to hospital, including seriously ill patients who would benefit from urgent transfer to hospital. Patients arriving by taxi are frequently carelessly removed from the vehicle often causing additional damage and increased pain. A NAS ambulance could have avoided all this distress.
There are also long time delays patients receive vital time-critical emergency care.
The Wrong Hospital?
Our studies also showed many patients with specific disease – for example trauma, brain bleed, or a heart attack are taken initially to hospitals which don’t have the facility to deal with them. This leads to a catastrophic delay in what the patient needs – which is a specific form of definitive care.