A Vancouver Island man says he wants answers after a wheel came off the medical transport vehicle that was moving him between hospitals on the Malahat Highway.
Randall Krall, 76, had recieved angioplasty surgery in Victoria, and was being transported back to Nanaimo with two other patients in a privately-contracted Medi-Van on Nov. 21.
Krall told Global News he was strapped into a stretcher in the back of the vehicle when he sensed something was wrong shortly after the vehicle hit the road in Victoria.
“I could feel a wobble, a real prominent wobble,” he said. “There was no line cord to pull, an alarm, to get to the driver.”
It wasn’t, however, until the vehicle got near the Malahat Summit around midnight that things went spectacularly wrong at highway speed.
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“Things went haywire and the wheel came right off,” Krall said, adding the driver was able to pull the vehicle onto the shoulder on three wheels.
“That’s commendable to the driver, but its not commendable to the company.”
The vehicle was subsequently transported to Langford, where it is undergoing a mechanical inspection.
Global News sought comment from Medi-Van Canada, the company that operated it, but did not receive a response.
In a statement, Island Health, which contracted the transport, said the driver pulled over when they “noticed vibrations in the cab” and that “a tire/axle issue was identified.”
“Island Health holds its contractors to the highest standards. Our contractors that support non-emergency patient transports are required to meet stringent safety standards and ensure regular maintenance of their fleets,” it added.
Krall told Global News he and the other patients were forced to wait half an hour before another transport arrived to take them the rest of the way.
On top of that, he said he was forced to walk to the other ambulance wearing nothing but a hospital gown in winter temperatures — not long after receiving heart surgery.
He said he wants an investigation into what happened.
“This is very much a medical situation – that shouldn’t be overlooked. There is something wrong, somewhere along the line – and somebody should be nailed for it,” he said.
“This whole thing shouldn’t have happened.”
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