Kozhikode: The ‘108’ emergency ambulance service introduced in the state in 2010 to save the life of accident victims is down and out. Most of the vehicles are lying in workshops and others do not run as pump owners refuse to give them fuel due to the non-clearance of pending bills by the government. The experiences of those trying to get the ambulance service are telling.
Around 6.30 p.m. on September 19, Rahul Rajeev of Kakkodi, near here, dialled ‘108’ to rush his friend who had met with an accident to a hospital. The one who attended the call said that there were not enough ambulances and that the existing ones were in the workshop for repair. “I dialled 108 to take an accident victim to the hospital, but there were no drivers available,” said Amith Nair, an IT professional in Thiruvananthapuram. “If this is the case what is the need of such a service,” he asked.
As per the figures of the health department the agency has saved over 30,000 lives every year. But now the services are on the wrong track. A large number of services are afflicted with strikes by the employees, ageing fleet of ambulances and the shortcomings in infrastructure, according to sources. It was on May 19, 2010 that ‘Dial 108 in emergency’ was launched under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) with a Mumbai-based organisation, Ziqitza Health Care Ltd.
The service was named ‘Kerala Emergency Medical Service Project (KEMP) Dial 108 in Emergency.’ The ambulance offered sophisticated equipment to tackle emergencies, medicines and consumables required for stabilising the life of the patient, including oxygen. All the ambulances were proposed to be monitored and controlled through a 24x7 Emergency Response Centre (control room) with the help of GPS and GPRS network, but nothing worked out.
“No extra funds were allotted for the services and hence many pump owners have refused to give fuel in the absence of payments of pending bills,” said Rajesh (name changed), an ambulance driver here. Not just the 108 service, even the ambulances run by the state government through its medical college hospitals and general hospitals are suffering from insufficient funds, including for repair, he pointed out.
