New Taipei Fire Department rejected a claim of NT$1 (US$0.033) in state compensation for its alleged slow response in sending an ambulance to take a toddler with severe COVID-19 symptoms to hospital on April 14, linked to the child’s death five days later.
The Fire Department task force on state compensation held a meeting on Friday to deliberate the case and decided to reject the claim, an official, who asked to remain anonymous, told CNA Saturday.
The task force concluded that the ambulance request was dealt with “without delay,” the anonymous official said.
The task force also determined that the department correctly followed guidelines set by the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on ambulance dispatch for COVID patients, the official said.
Nicknamed En En (??), the young boy developed severe COVID-19 symptoms and fell into a coma at home in New Taipei on April 14. He was only admitted to hospital after his family waited 81 minutes for an ambulance, and died on April 19.
Since May 27, En En’s father Mr Lin has repeatedly appealed to the city government for access to the phone records between related agencies regarding their handling of the ambulance request, but his demands have been refused.
The phone records were later leaked to and released by local media.
Lin said he asked for the symbolic compensation of NT$1 on Aug. 16, in a bid to force the city government to be honest as to why the ambulance took so long — a delay he believes was directly responsible for his son’s death — and to prevent similar tragedies from ever happening again.
According to a CECC investigation into the case, which was released to the media on July 5, an ambulance was not dispatched for En En until the authorities were able to find an available hospital bed.
New Taipei officials had previously argued that CECC guidelines stipulated a COVID-19 patient must be assigned to a designated hospital before an ambulance could be dispatched.
However, CECC officials had said an ambulance should be sent immediately and its dispatch not be contingent on hospital bed availability in a case that involves a life-threatening situation, including loss of consciousness, as in En En’s case.
Lin’s claim was filed with New Taipei City Government, and the city’s Fire Department and Department of Health, asking each to pay NT$1 for their roles in the slow ambulance response.
The Department of Health task force on state compensation discussed Lin’s case on Friday, but decided not to make public its conclusion, an anonymous official said.
Meanwhile, the city government’s task force on state compensation is scheduled to meet on Sept.5 to review the case.
Speaking to CNA by phone on Saturday, Lin said he hopes that the city government’s task force will clear up some issues, including how many people were on duty at the Zhonghe District Health Center on April 14.
Lin believes the fact the Fire Department could not reach the local health center’s staff promptly after the former received the ambulance request call for En En is crucial to determining the cause of the delay in dispatching an ambulance.
According to the CECC investigation, Lin and his wife tried to contact the local health center after they first called the Fire Department, but no one picked up their three calls.
After receiving the Lin family’s request, Fire Department personnel also called the local health center twice and the Department of Health three times, but no one answered, the CECC report said.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel