Monday, September 20, 2021 at 13:29• Jeroen van Poppel • Last update: 13:38

A twenty-year-old amateur football player from Elim spent hours in pain on the sidewalk in front of the Bethesda hospital in Hoogeveen on Saturday, according to a letter sent to Regional news Hoogeveen. The player is believed to have tore his hamstring during a game and was taken to Bethesda hospital in ‘a very painful van ride’, but was not treated there.

The remarkable story is described in detail at Regional news Hoogeveen. After the player was injured, he received help from the first aid team present. His leg was cooled and then it was decided to carry him off the field by stretcher. The emergency room then called the emergency room. “The ambulance could not come because the injured player had been carried off the field,” the note reads.

In the absence of an ambulance, the injured player then had to be taken to hospital by ‘a very painful ride in a supporter’s van’. It was expected that a doctor would be present, but the hospital turned out to be closed. While a solution was being sought, the victim lay on the sidewalk for hours, according to the letter.

“After a (too) long wait, ambulance personnel and a doctor came to look at the victim outside,” it sounds. “They couldn’t do anything for him and referred him to the hospital in Meppel.” There was no ambulance available to take the football player to Meppel. “An ambulance had just left and there was only one inside that had to remain standing for emergencies. After a long painful afternoon, the man was finally helped in Meppel.”

Treant Zorggroep of hospital Bethesda says in a statement that the basic emergency post in Hoogeveen is closed during the weekend. Only the emergency basic station is currently closed. “I have made inquiries”, spokesperson Erwin Kikkers told The Telegraph. “This gentleman has not been registered for our emergency care at the Emmen location. He probably had to be at the emergency general practitioner in Hoogeveen. But I do not know whether it was busy there at the time. The most important thing is that people do not go to the hospital on their own. go, but they must contact 112 or their GP post, because over the phone it is possible to consider what care is needed at that moment and where the patient can best be helped.”