In a major relief to the GVK EMRI 108 emergency services operating with an aging fleet, 16 new fully furnished ambulances have been provided to it by the State Government on Thursday. The new vehicles would replace the old ambulances, something which is expected to impart to it a new lease of life. The spokesperson of the service Mohan Singh Rana said that the new ambulances would be launched by the Chief Medical Officers (CMO) of the districts. He, further, said that the 108 service has so far received 20 new vehicles.
It is pertinent to mention here that 61 new vehicles were purchased by the health department in March this year.
These vehicles manufactured by Tata Motors kept gathering dust outside the office of the Director General (DG) health in their wait for refurbishments.
Now, after a long wait spanning over six months, the department has, finally, handed over 20 ambulances to the 108 service.
The department is planning to purchase 50 more ambulances so that the all the old vehicles of the fleet are replaced.
The new ambulances are expected to infuse a new lease of life into the fleet of the 108 service. Most of the vehicles in the fleet are old and at least 75 percent of the fleet needs immediate replacement.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) mandates that the ambulances should be replaced after three years or after they travel 1.5 lakh kilometres whichever occurs first. Interestingly, all the ambulances of the emergency 108 services have surpassed both these parameters.
Ninety ambulances of the 108 service were purchased in 2008 while 18 and 32 more ambulances were purchased in 2010 and 2011 respectively.
Besides, almost all the vehicles of the service have covered a distance of more than 3 lakh kilometres.
108Ambulance Service
Launched in 2008, the 108 services is a vital cog in providing emergency care in all parts of the State. The services are also catering to the important task of transporting the pregnant women for safe deliveries to the hospitals. The 108 ambulance service has a fleet of 140 ambulances and it has a boat ambulance too which operates in Tehri lake.