The Four Euro Telephone Call. Never Again!

Last  week I was in the car with my children, when I was exiting the highway I noticed that a car was parked, semi blocking the exit. At least 4 cars passed, looked at the car and continued. When I reached the stopped car, I saw a clearly distressed woman, fanning herself, sweating profusely and very pale.

I stopped (safely at the curb), put on my lovely neon yellow gear  and went to see what was wrong. The woman seemed in distress, she could not move the car to a safer point out of the exit ramp way, so I called 061.

061 is supposed to be for medical emergencies, and is supposed to have trained personnel- the operative word here is “supposed”.  I explained the symptoms and said to send a mobile unit. They kept asking me questions that did nothing to help me or her. Even though I had explained that I was just a passer by, they asked about her previous medical history, if she was a diabetic, how do I know? I wanted to scream, just send the ambulance!!!!!

I managed to move her car out of the highway, moved mine, and proceeded to wait. the lady started to slowly feel better, which was a good thing, as the ambulance took a good 30 minutes to arrive. When they did, they asked me why hadn’t I driven her to the nearby health care centre? Sure, was I supposed to put a sick stranger in my car with my children? Very unreasonable!

Now, the symptoms I had described could have easily been of a heart attack… thank god that it turned out that was not the case. The nearest centre with ambulances was a mere 10-15 minutes away, and they have three ambulances.

Why the tardiness? because people tend to call for an ambulance for no urgent reason, as they use the A&E for the same thing.

BUT when my mobile phone bill arrived there it was…….3,95€ for two calls to 061……what??? Are they serious?!

What  is the morale of this story?:

1) If you are with someone, that is in what could be an urgent situation and you have a healthcare centre near:  GO THERE, don’t wait for an ambulance  (providing it’s before 3PM or if you know that that centre is  “on call” after that hour), there you will be seen by a doctor and an ambulance will take you to the hospital if needed. When a healthcare centre calls for an ambulance they usually come faster.

2) I suggest that you do not call 061, except perhaps if it´s a case  where CPR is needed and they can guide you through that (even though CPR done in the field with no equipment carries a very low chance of success), I would stick with 112, that is FREE. Paying for an emergency medical call is just insanely wrong.

Again, paying 3,95€ (it sounds like an american product in sale), just plain WRONG.

Please note: The information provided is based upon our understanding of current legislation. It is not legal advice but is provided freely to enable you to be properly informed. We recommend that if you are considering taking action, you should seek professional advice.