The staff of a CATS ambulance allegedly refused to take a 15-year-old mentally-challenged girl, whose condition was critical, to a hospital. The ambulance staff also clashed with the local police and PCR staff saying it was not their responsibility to rush a mentally-challenged person to hospital. Finally, the police called their quick response vehicle (QRV) and rushed the victim to Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS). According to information, the victim who hails from Khurja, UP, comes with her father Rajender Singh to Delhi for treatment every month. On Wednesday, after her check up at IHBAS, her father took her to Old Delhi Railway Station to return home. But the girl fell semi-unconscious outside the station and started frothing. Her father made a call on 102. The ambulance reached the spot but the staff refused to take the girl to hospital. The girl’s father then called PCR and narrated the incident. Local police from the Kotwali police station and PCR personnel reached the spot. “They said that it was not their duty to take a mentally challenged girl to a mental hospital. We tried to persuade them that we are not trained paramedical personnel and anything could happen to girl on the way but they were not ready to listen anything,” said a police source. The police then called one of its quick response vehicle and took the victim to IHBAS. A top official, requesting anonymity, said they daily transfer around 250 calls to them, but the ambulance don’t come on time. “We earlier requested them to deploy an ambulance with the PCR but they refused,” said the official.
