CAIRO: Operated by volunteer physicians, nurses, medical students and interns; numerous field hospitals, clinics, and makeshift pharmacies have appeared downtown to aid the hundreds of injured protesters battling police on Mohamed Mahmoud Street.
While the medical care units and physicians continue to save lives, little attention has been brought to the unsung heroes of the downtown bloodshed – the young men operating their motorbikes as ambulances, pulling in injured victims from the clashes and bringing them to the field hospitals.
Dr Omaima Akkad, a chest specialist managing the field hospital on the corner of Talaat Harb and Tahrir Street told Daily News Egypt, “The motorcycles have become our ambulances – as you can see, the square is so crowded, it is impossible for the real ambulances to get through to Mohamed Mahmoud Street [where most of the injuries are].
“These young men on the bikes are the most important element in our medical units at this point, they are fearlessly going into the front lines, through the tear gas, to bring us back the injured,” she added.
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators continued to gather in Tahrir Square Tuesday to demand the immediate exit of Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi. Throughout the day, the makeshift, motorbike-ambulances carried in hundreds of bodies.
According to Akkad, many of these young men have been transporting the injured since the violent clashes began on Sunday, barely taking breaks, and diligently returning every day.
The motorbike ambulances operate with a driver, often wearing no protective gear, while a passenger rides behind him acting as the stretcher – together, they hold the injured bodies between them during the transport.
On Tuesday, many of the drivers were not yet equipped with proper goggles or gas masks which unfortunately led to some accidents at the Talaat Harb field clinic – drivers hit by the tear gas drove blindly to the field hospital and consequently came to a crashing standstill.
As the day continued on, the motorbike ambulances and the field hospitals continued to become more organized. The street was cleared out and roped off, first by demonstrators linking arms, and later with twine, to block off the clinic – the drivers were also given proper gas mask and goggles.
A fearless driver named, Mohamed Sayed, told DNE, “I have been here since Sunday, transporting bodies from Mohamed Mahmoud to the clinics – how can I go home when for once, I am needed?”
“During the Jan. 25 uprising, the media and the people kept saying we were Baltageya [government hired thugs], now we can prove that we are not Baltageya, we are just Egyptians,” he added.
Many of the motorbike ambulance drivers have been added to the injured list due to their repeated exposure to the tear gas. According to Akkad, the tear gas being used is CR gas – which is more intense than the typical CS gas used against demonstrators in Egypt.
Akkad said, “While I cannot say for certain without operating, the cases that I am seeing [in Tahrir] are reminiscent of lung cancer patients I’ve have treated in the hospital I work at – their levels of unconsciousness and the way their bodies are reacting in seizures.
“This CR gas is not meant for protesters, it’s meant for war,” she added.
Akkad went on to mention that she wanted to station closer to the injured on Mohamed Mahmoud Street, but that many of the motorbike drivers insisted that she and the other doctors stay further away.
One young motorbike driver said to her, “We will not let you near Mohamed Mahmoud. It is important for doctors to stay away from harm, everyone thinks we are Baltageya anyhow, let us die on the front lines, Egypt needs educated, skilled people like you to lead our country’s future, not people like us.”
