Hi Sgoti.

Back in the early 80s I worked in Egypt for about 6 months. On several occasions I was strongly advised by locals not to help anybody in distress who may require hospitalisation. The reason was that if the patient could not afford to pay the bills (which almost certainly they couldn't) the person summoning an ambulance would be held liable for all costs.

Healthcare at the time was supposedly free, but it was so ineffective that the patient would be long dead before a public-sector ambulance arrived, hence resorting to private alternatives.

Because of the "entertaining" standard of driving, car crashes were regular occurrences, but rarely would you see any bystanders do anything more than just look. I don't think there was any lack of compassion or empathy, just a reluctance at a practical level to risk taking on a potentially large cost for a stranger.