Dad-of-two dies on Christmas Eve waiting for ambulance even after family called emergency services THRICE
HEREFORD, ENGLAND: A devastated family has been sharing their grief after losing their "lovely" father, who died on Christmas Eve while waiting for an ambulance, despite their three frantic calls to 999. Iqbal Rahman died at the age of 58 on Saturday, December 24 after his condition deteriorated while waiting for an ambulance.
His daughter, Minnie Rahman, 34, said he felt “nobody was coming to help him” as his situation worsened. She stated the family made the first 999 calls at around 7.07 pm because they felt Iqbal was showing symptoms of heart problems. West Midlands Ambulance Service, at that time, triaged Iqbal as a category 5 case, requiring a callback with advice from a paramedic or nurse, Mirror reported.
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The Rahman family made a second desperate call for help 40 minutes later after they failed to lift him into a car to take him to the hospital. This time, the service triaged Iqbal as category 2 and dispatched a second ambulance. By the time the family phoned a third time at 8:04 p.m., Iqbal had already ceased breathing. Guidelines state an ambulance should arrive within about seven minutes after this. But it arrived 24 minutes late at 8.28 pm. The paramedics then attempted to revive Iqbal for over 90 minutes with no success.
His daughter Minnie told the Mirror: “My dad felt in his final hours that nobody was coming to help him. It’s really difficult for me and my family to live with.” Instead of blaming the ambulance service or even the NHS, Minnie held years of Government underfunding accountable for his father’s loss. As Prime Minister Rishi Sunak admitted “patients aren’t receiving the care they deserve”, Minnie concurred saying, “the Government has created a situation in which healthcare professionals can't provide the care they are trained to give.”
“At this point, the Tories cannot be trusted. For 13 years they’ve underfunded and privatized the NHS, leaving it in this disastrous state. They’re too far late for the many of us grieving loved ones who didn’t get help when we needed it,” Minnie said, blasting the administration. “I don’t think any of my family ever thought that if you call the ambulance they won’t come when it’s that bad. And it was that bad – Dad died. My mum is just devastated.”
Iqbal was due to spend Christmas at an Airbnb in Hereford with his wife of 38 years Samina, 58, his second daughter Sana, 36, and Sana’s children. Minnie said her mother believed her father was suffering from heart problems when he arrived at the residence and appeared ill. “He was complaining of extreme shoulder pain, had a very high temperature, and was excessively sweating. It was first advised that it could be due to his diabetes. It wasn’t until his breathing stopped that paramedics were sent.” Minnie said.
Minnie said her father’s death was also “heartbreaking” for paramedics: “They should be getting to people at a stage where they can help. How many families will be traumatized before the Government does what it has to do and funds the NHS properly?" Responding to Iqbal’s tragic death, a WMAS spokeswoman said: “We would like to apologize to the Rahman family for the delayed response and offer our condolences. At the time of the call, the Trust was experiencing long hospital handover delays.”