108 ambulances come to a standstill

Thiruvananthapuram: Thousands of cardiac arrests and delivery emergency cases were taken care of  by 108 ambulance fleet during its operations for five-and-a- half years in  the city. 

But, five months after the operations were  taken over by the state government from private service providers, the ambulances have stopped attending to cases other than motor vehicle accidents.

“The ICU devices in most of the ambulances have stopped functioning. Now tenders have to be floated for each repair and the maintenance lags own. Hence the ambulances are used for serious accidents only,”  the staffers said.

As per sources, the  government is operating 108 fleet at a higher cost compared to the figures private companies had  quoted.

The National  Health Mission, which provide funds from the scheme, are also inclined to give up the responsibility of 108.

“Two private companies gave quotes  to run the operation. However,  the claimed cost of operation was deemed high by the state which was not ready to pay more than Rs 123 for  per kilometre operation.

After taking over, the government now has ended  up by spending more money than what private companies had quoted,” said a Kerala Medical Services Corporation source.

Keltron, which has the infrastructure to handle the services, had shown interest to operate 108, but the government has  not given permission for this move.

The private company GVK, which was earlier managing the fleet, had given insurance cover to its staff.   However with government taking over, the ambulance pilots and staffers get no insurance.

 

 

Download the all new Deccan Chronicle app for Android and iOS to stay up-to-date with latest headlines and news stories in politics, entertainment, sports, technology, business and much more from India and around the world.