Narrative:

Somewhere between 16;000 ft -17;000 ft on arrival into ZZZ we got a call from our flight attendants that they had a medical emergency; a male was having a seizure; a doctor and a nurse were attending him and they advised we needed him on the ground as soon as possible. We declared a medical emergency with ATC (ATC gave us priority handling to land xxl); I then had my first officer call station operations of our situation and need for emts to meet our flight. About 5 miles before the FAF a flight attendant called again to inform us that the passenger had gone unconscious and stopped breathing; but the doctor and nurse were able to bring him back. Once on the ground we went direct to the ramp for a gate arrival. As we entered the ramp area from xx another xy flight was pushing off our gate. That flight was told to push back far east to allow us to enter with our medical emergency; but the pushback stopped right in front of the gate blocking our entry. I advised the outbound flight over ramp frequency that our passenger had almost died and we needed them out of the way. Ramp control also jumped in and stated they were told to push back further east. The outbound flight said the tug driver didn't want to push back any further because they were askew on the yellow line. They then asked if we wanted them to disconnect and start engines? I suggested that they have ramp pull them forward (they were still connected) out of the way instead (I thought that would be quicker). We sat in this conundrum for over 5 minutes before they were finally out of the way. During this time both my first officer and I made calls/statements on both ramp and operations freq's of the seriousness of our need to get parked/emt's on board. As the aircraft was being towed forward finally; I had my first officer call operations again to make sure we had rampers to marshal us in- which we did not see readily available. We ended up waiting another 5 minutes to get rampers to show up. Finally we got parked; but apparently we had a novice gate agent that took another 5 minutes to drive/park the jetbridge to the aircraft. A total of 15+ minutes was wasted waiting to get to the gate and get emt's on board- more time than it took me to fly as fast as I safely could to get on the ground from when notified of the event. When seconds count; this is totally unacceptable/inexcusable in an emergency.this is what cost cutting and cheapest contracts get you- inexperienced and poorly trained; high turnover people- rampers that can't follow directions or push back straight; no foresight on the need of another ramp crew to marshal us in; a jetway driver with no experience manning the controls. The company safety policy are only words; it is obvious that safety for our customers is not a priority; experience and training cost money; how much is a life worth to you? What if the passenger in need was your spouse or child and they ended up dying because it took 15 minutes to get parked- waiting to get to medication/services to save that life at the gate? Time and time again I have seen this lack of experience/training/equipment throughout our system. Stations that don't answer ACARS in-range requests (that could give them a heads-up of important information); don't answer operations frequency's; don't even answer phone calls from dispatch or ATC. Many times the ACARS messages go to only one computer that may not be convenient to always man. Operations freq's that are only manned at specific locations that aren't always manned (e.g.; ACARS computer and operations radio at a location by the front ticket counter; so that when the first call/ACARS is responded to the agent leaves to the gate because they are short staffed- no further communication can be made with them). Why do we not have an on-duty operations manager in each station with a hand held radio so that someone can always be reached no matter where they are? I watched a flight about a year ago push back and disconnect and shortly after have a medical emergency- no one could be contacted to get back to the gate; it took 15-20 minutes to get them parked again. We also stopped publishing station phone numbers for some reason- I have to get a hold of dispatch for them to make a call for me. Most locations have not given those contact numbers to the local ATC (ground/ramp control will make calls for you). What policies and procedures do we have in place if a flight has a medical issue; a security issue; etc.- who is available for me to contact and how long will it take to make that happen? Do our below wing contractors have a policy/procedure(s) in place for a medical emergency?- I doubt it. None of these problems are new; they've been going on for years. The only way this will be taken seriously and fixed is when someone finally dies and the company is held liable for their ineptitude.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier flight crew reported a delay in gate arrival during a medical emergency due to ramp congestion and lack of personnel experience.

Narrative: Somewhere between 16;000 FT -17;000 FT on arrival into ZZZ we got a call from our flight attendants that they had a medical emergency; a male was having a seizure; a doctor and a nurse were attending him and they advised we needed him on the ground ASAP. We declared a medical emergency with ATC (ATC gave us priority handling to land XXL); I then had my First Officer call Station Operations of our situation and need for EMTs to meet our flight. About 5 miles before the FAF a Flight Attendant called again to inform us that the passenger had gone unconscious and stopped breathing; but the doctor and nurse were able to bring him back. Once on the ground we went direct to the ramp for a gate arrival. As we entered the ramp area from XX another XY flight was pushing off our gate. That flight was told to push back far east to allow us to enter with our medical emergency; but the pushback stopped right in front of the gate blocking our entry. I advised the outbound flight over ramp frequency that our passenger had almost died and we needed them out of the way. Ramp control also jumped in and stated they were told to push back further east. The outbound flight said the tug driver didn't want to push back any further because they were askew on the yellow line. They then asked if we wanted them to disconnect and start engines? I suggested that they have ramp pull them forward (they were still connected) out of the way instead (I thought that would be quicker). We sat in this conundrum for over 5 minutes before they were finally out of the way. During this time both my First Officer and I made calls/statements on both ramp and Operations Freq's of the seriousness of our need to get parked/EMT's on board. As the aircraft was being towed forward finally; I had my First Officer call Operations again to make sure we had rampers to marshal us in- which we did not see readily available. We ended up waiting another 5 minutes to get rampers to show up. Finally we got parked; but apparently we had a novice gate agent that took another 5 minutes to drive/park the jetbridge to the aircraft. A total of 15+ minutes was wasted waiting to get to the gate and get EMT's on board- more time than it took me to fly as fast as I safely could to get on the ground from when notified of the event. When seconds count; this is totally unacceptable/inexcusable in an emergency.This is what cost cutting and cheapest contracts get you- inexperienced and poorly trained; high turnover people- Rampers that can't follow directions or push back straight; no foresight on the need of another ramp crew to marshal us in; a jetway driver with no experience manning the controls. The company Safety Policy are only words; it is obvious that safety for our customers is not a priority; experience and training cost money; how much is a life worth to you? What if the passenger in need was your spouse or child and they ended up dying because it took 15 minutes to get parked- waiting to get to medication/services to save that life at the gate? Time and time again I have seen this lack of experience/training/equipment throughout our system. Stations that don't answer ACARS in-range requests (that could give them a heads-up of important information); don't answer Operations Frequency's; don't even answer phone calls from dispatch or ATC. Many times the ACARS messages go to only one computer that may not be convenient to always man. Operations Freq's that are only manned at specific locations that aren't always manned (e.g.; ACARS computer and Operations radio at a location by the front ticket counter; so that when the first call/ACARS is responded to the agent leaves to the gate because they are short staffed- no further communication can be made with them). Why do we not have an on-duty Operations Manager in each station with a hand held radio so that someone can always be reached no matter where they are? I watched a flight about a year ago push back and disconnect and shortly after have a medical emergency- no one could be contacted to get back to the gate; it took 15-20 minutes to get them parked again. We also stopped publishing station phone numbers for some reason- I have to get a hold of dispatch for them to make a call for me. Most locations have not given those contact numbers to the local ATC (Ground/ramp control will make calls for you). What policies and procedures do we have in place if a flight has a medical issue; a Security Issue; etc.- who is available for me to contact and how long will it take to make that happen? Do our below wing contractors have a policy/procedure(s) in place for a medical emergency?- I doubt it. None of these problems are new; they've been going on for years. The only way this will be taken seriously and fixed is when someone finally dies and the company is held liable for their ineptitude.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.