Family and friends of a Ontario truck driver caught in an U.S. hospital say they can not imagine their makes an attempt to convey him again to Canada are in jeopardy as a result of an area hospital did not settle for him.
Officers from William Osler Heath System pointed to the pressure of the Omicron variant, affected person surges and workers shortages as the rationale their hospital needed to flip away a world air ambulance that will have carried Ali Ahmed from Arkansas final Friday.
"Until they've docs prepared and ready for him, ambulance prepared and ready for him, a room prepared and ready for him, they will not fly," Ahmed's pal, Ibrahim Bihi, informed CTV Information Toronto Thursday.
Ahmed's sister, Leyla Palmqvist, who flew from the U.Okay. to be at Ahmed’s bedside in Little Rock mentioned the uncertainty is including stress to an already painful journey.
"All I do know is that it was actually troublesome, as a result of this hospital was asking, 'Can we discharge him?' And we did not know the place we may take him. We're hanging within the air," she mentioned.
Ahmed was carrying items by means of Texas when he had a stroke in December. Paramedics within the U.S. introduced him to the College of Arkansas Medical Centre, the place he underwent a number of surgical procedures, and stays within the ICU, his sister mentioned.
"He survived, however he’s now in a coma," she mentioned.
Ahmed is self-employed and doesn't have journey medical insurance coverage. His household organized a $22,500 non-public flight with the Federal Air Ambulance to convey him to Etobicoke Normal Hospital on Friday.
However when he time got here, the hospital could not affirm a mattress, the household mentioned.
That left Ahmed caught in Arkansas, and with out insurance coverage, his household says the ICU mattress there has value them $1,000 per day.
Bihi mentioned hospital officers known as him Thursday to guarantee him one other plan to convey him to Toronto on Friday would go forward. However he remained skeptical.
William Osler is among the many hardest hit hospital techniques through the pandemic. For a number of days in January, the hospitals declared a “Code Orange” — cancelling non-urgent procedures. It mentioned on the time that was due to a surge in sufferers and staffing challenges.
"Like many different hospitals throughout Ontario, Osler continues to expertise the impacts of the Omicron variant by way of occupancy and staffing challenges," the company mentioned in an announcement to CTV Information Toronto.
Claudette Holloway of the Registered Nurses Affiliation of Ontario mentioned there was already a scarcity of nurses going into the pandemic, and burnout and fatigue have induced many to stop.
“We want a recruitment and retention technique,” she mentioned. “Nurses don’t need to depart, however they will different provinces, some are going throughout the border, some are retiring sooner than they plan to.
“We have to do all we will and get the premier to behave," she mentioned.
Ahmed is a resident of Etobicoke North, and is a constituent of Premier Doug Ford. His workplace didn’t reply to a request for touch upon Thursday.
In the meantime, Brampton MPP Gurratan Singh mentioned it’s time to discover a option to convey Ahmed house.
"It ought to by no means have come to this. Mr. Ahmed must be right here being handled at his native hospital. It’s horrible that his household is on this scenario," he mentioned.
"For years our hospitals have been underfunded and the pandemic has demonstrated what number of cracks there are in our hospital system," he mentioned.
Post a Comment