CHIEF executive officer of the South-West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) Anil Gosine said yesterday its policy that ambulances cannot stop on the roadside for persons in need will remain unchanged until the Minister of Health, Dr Fuad Khan, says otherwise.

Gosine said when the driver of an SWRHA ambulance refused to take Erin mother Stacy Simon and her dying baby, Akhail, to the San Fernando General Hospital on Friday, the employee was following policy.

Gosine said, "Our policy is that we cannot pick up anyone on the side of the road. We have not done it previously."

Asked if the policy could be revised to avoid a repeat of last week's incident, Gosine said, "The minister said he wants to liaise with the regional health authorities on revising the policy. Our ambulances go from facility to facility. If the minister chooses to revise our policies, he would instruct us."

The child's funeral was held at the Erin Roman Catholic Church yesterday, and the tiny casket was buried at the public cemetery in the community.

There has been public outrage over the decision by the ambulance personnel not to render aid to 21-month-old baby Akhail,who was in his mother's arms while she was standing on the roadside in La Romaine.

The vehicle transporting the sick boy to hospital had broken down, and the woman had just taken her ailing child to the Gulf View Medical Centre where a doctor examined the boy and told her to go to the San Fernando General Hospital although he believed the infant was already dead.

A good Samaritan took the boy to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy found he died from cardio respiratory arrest.

Gosine said from his enquiries, the ambulance was coming from either the Point Fortin Area Hospital or the Siparia Health Facility.

Gosine said if Simon saw a person on a stretcher in the back of the ambulance, then a patient would have been en route to the San Fernando General Hospital.

The Health Minister has expressed disgust over what he described as the inhumane behaviour of the Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) who did not provide assistance to the mother and child.

Khan said Simon and the baby should have been given assistance, whether the ambulance worked in the private or public health sector.