Ambulance delayed as police make way for Siddaramaiah’s convoy

No way out: The ambulance carrying a critical patient was stranded near Hoskote on Wednesday.

An ambulance, with a critical patient on board, was stuck for nearly 30 minutes at a traffic signal near Hoskote here to make way for the Karnataka Chief Minister’s convoy on Wednesday.

Fortunately, the ambulance, carrying Akram Sharief (36), had a paramedic on board who managed the situation. Mr. Sharief is in the Intensive Care Unit. Doctors said his condition was stable.

The patient, admitted to Srinivasa Hospital in TG Badavane, Kammavari Pete in Hoskote, for treatment of convulsions, was taken to the MVJ Hospital for a CT scan of the brain. The ambulance carrying him was taking him back when it got stuck.

Shaikh Babaji, the patient’s brother who was also in the ambulance, told

The Hindu that the vehicle was forced to stop as the police had blocked traffic to clear the way for Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his convoy. Mr. Siddaramaiah had gone to Hoskote to unveil a statue of Sangoli Rayanna and launch some development projects.

Earlier incidents

This is not the first time that an ambulance got held up in traffic while the police made way for the Chief Minister’s convoy. In June last year, it was reported that a woman lost her life when the ambulance carrying her was stuck at a traffic signal near Hoskote for almost 25 minutes.

A video clip showing some people pleading with the policemen to let the ambulance pass had gone viral on social media then.

In August 2015, three ambulances carrying patients to hospitals were made to wait in choc-a-bloc traffic for the Chief Minister and his convoy to leave Gayathri Vihar on Palace Grounds after attending a wedding.