[HURT: Siti injured her right arm when the bus she was on got into an accident. TNP PICTURE: GERALDINE YEO]

THE next time you get into an accident while taking public transport and get hurt, let the bus driver know.

The bus driver is trained to help you and can arrange for an ambulance if necessary, say bus companies.

Student Siti Nabilah Nor Azlan, 16, was on board SMRT bus service 980 at about 1.30pm on June 3 when the bus collided with a van along Upper Thomson Road. She was on her way to her grandmother's house in Braddell.

Siti said the impact caused her to spin a few times, and the right side of her body hit the metal pole near the front of the bus.

There were about 20 passengers on board at that time, but Siti was the only one standing.

'My right arm was swollen and my right thumb was bruised and bleeding,' she said.

Shocked, Siti said she did not tell the bus driver about her injuries.

Siti's father, Mr Nor Azlan Sulaiman, 38, is asking why no ambulance was called.

When contacted, an SMRT spokesman said regarding the incident on 3 Jun, 'preliminary investigations showed that our service leader had checked for passenger injury and did not receive report of any injury'.

So he did not call for an ambulance.

The SMRT spokesman said: 'Should there be a report of injury, the service leader will seek assistance from the SMRT Bus Operating Control Centre to call for an ambulance to tend to the injured.'

Mr Sulaiman, a retail supervisor, claimed he was told by the transport operator that he could 'try to claim' any medical expenses only after seeing a doctor.

He was also advised to lodge a police report, which he did. A police spokesman confirmed the report.

Siti did not see a doctor, though Mr Sulaiman felt that SMRT should have arranged for their in-house doctors to give her a free medical check-up.

SMRT said passengers should seek medical attention and make a police report before submitting the relevant documentation to SMRT.

'As in all claims, compensation depends on the outcome of investigations,' the spokesman said.

SBS Transit said they would adopt a similar approach in such cases.

Its vice-president of corporate communications, Ms Tammy Tan, said: 'Bus captains are expected to check with passengers to see if any of them are hurt.

'If so, the bus captain will contact our Operations Control Centre, which will then call for an ambulance.'

Ms Tan added that injured commuters can claim medical expense but this would be looked at on a case-by-case basis.

Joanna Hor and Geraldine Yeo, newsroom interns

This article was first published in The New Paper.