Volunteers give kiss of life as Vientiane road tolls mount
“Look at me, stay with us,” the paramedics shout as a barely conscious motorcyclist is bundled into a volunteer ambulance in the Laotian capital Vientiane, where rampant drink driving brings nightly carnage to the roads.
It is a grim scene familiar the world over.
But in Laos, an impoverished country with almost no state-funded medical services, these kind of vital lifesavers are volunteers and entirely funded by donations.
And they have never been more in demand.
By the time the crew arrive at a nearby hospital, the Japanese donated ambulance — a right hand drive vehicle in a left hand drive nation — has picked up two more injured on the way. Fresh calls for help are coming in all the time.
Founded in 2010 by a group of foreigners, Vientiane Rescue is a much needed lifeline for those in need of urgent medical care.
“Before we launched this service, after an accident the wounded were simply left on the roadside or taken away in tuk-tuks. That’s obviously disastrous for those with fractures or trauma,” explained Sastien Perret, a French national and former firefighter who helped found the group.
Poorly maintained roads, dilapidated vehicles, an increase in motorcycle use and the widespread prevalence of drink driving makes Vientiane one of Asia’s most precarious capitals for road deaths.
The government keeps few statistics, but Perret’s group said demand for their services has jumped 30 percent in the last year alone.
“We undertake around 20 to 30 call outs a day. And in 90 percent of cases it is road accidents,” he said.
There was a time when Vientiane was famed for its lack of cars.
Backpackers passing through the city in the 1990s would marvel at the wide, French-built boulevards devoid of heavy traffic, bicycles and tuk-tuks the main form of transport.
But years of rapid growth has seen the same streets filled with vehicles in recent years, many of them brandnew SUVs and luxury cars driven by the country’s elite.
That wealth — and the volunteer ambulances scooping victims up from the road — are both a stark illustration of how public services in Laos are largely nascent or nonexistent despite being one of Asia’s fastest growing economies over the last decade.
In the 1990s the country’s rulers abandoned free healthcare altogether, meaning ordinary citizens must fend for themselves when they get ill.
Since 2000, Laos’ GDP has increased 12 times, reaching $12.3 billion in 2015.
Before we launched this service, after an accident the wounded were simply left on the roadside.” Sastien Perret, a French national who helped found the group Vientiane Rescue