A few days ago I was minding my own business (as I usually do) returning from the mornings school run at about 8am. The traffic as usual was pretty heavy and moving slowly. On the opposite side of the road there was a bit of a scuffle as several motorbikes seemed to fall over each other piling up on the road. It didn’t seem to be a bad accident and I watched as two riders got back on to two bikes and moved on apparently unharmed. The third rider was under the bike and he wasn’t moving. I watched for what seemed to be a good few minutes as cars and motorbikes swerved to miss the boy, gazing out of their windows while he lay motionless on the road.
Realizing that no-one closer to him than I was going to assist I pulled over, negotiated the traffic to cross the road and attempted to move the boy out of the way of the stream of cars and motorbikes that continued to file past, by which time a flower-pot seller had come running from his hut to assist. We managed to move the boy on to the grass, being careful not to move his neck, as it seemed that he could very possibly have injured his spine.
Luckily the victim was wearing a full face helmet which had prevented any serious head injuries, but he was still unconscious which led me to believe that his injuries, possibly to his spine and chest, must be serious. I motioned to my assistant, the flower-pot-man, to try and summon a bemo or an open back truck so we could transport the boy to Sanglah laying him flat on his back. But as Murphys law would have it, not a bemo in sight when you need one!
Next thing you know, less than five minutes into the drama I am staring at a pair of big black boots and brown trousers. Yes, the troops had arrived. Three policemen had come to the scene and I half expected them to cart me away under suspicion of causing an accident, (which has happened to me before!) even though my car was quite some distance from the fallen bike.
Two policemen directed the traffic while another came to assist me. “Don’t move the boy” he said “you might further damage his neck if he has broken it. He looks very seriously injured”.
Well you could have blown me over with a feather! A policeman in Bali with good sound knowledge of first aid? Uh??
“It’s okay” I said. “I’m a nurse so I know what to do here, but I think you should flag down a bemo quickly because he really is in serious condition.”
His reply once again took me by total surprise.
“It’s okay Ibu, I’ve called an ambulance on the walkie talkie.”
An ambulance!!?? In Bali ??How long will that take to get here in this traffic I thought.
A few minutes passed as the policemen and I searched through the boys pockets and found his wallet containing his ID, and we ascertained that his name was Nyoman. No sooner had I started to talk to “Nyoman” to find out if he could hear me and give the poor guy some idea of what had happened to him, than I heard the wail of sirens as an ambulance come down the street. The doors flung open and two Sanglah paramedics emerged with a stretcher, a neck brace, and spine blocks. They log-rolled the boy onto the stretcher being meticulous not to cause any movement to his spine. They loaded the victim into the ambulance and sped off to the emergency department of Sanglah Hospital, and there I was left standing at the roadside still in a state of shock. Not because I has just witnessed a boy almost killed but because I had just seen a medical ambulance retrieval run like clockwork, all in the space of under 20 minutes IN BALI!!!! What????
I must have still looked quite dazed as the kindly police officer offered to escort me across the road, without any interrogation or insinuation that I might have somehow been involved. WHAT??? I had to pinch myself to just to make sure that this really was not a dream.
So what’s my point? Hat’s off to the Boys in Brown (police), and the Sanglah Ambulance service and the Paramedics. You have come a long, long way. The Sanglah Ambulance Service number is 226 363 or 227 915 ext 260.
Kim Patra is a qualified registered nurse and midwife who has been living and working in Bali for almost 20 years. She now runs her own private practice and medical referral service from her Kuta office. Kim is happy to discuss any health concerns with you and she may be contacted via e-mail at info@chcbali.com or Hp. 081 2366 0000.
