In an apparently strange move, the State medical health and family welfare department has purchased 78 more vehicles even as some of the 61 vehicles earlier purchased by the department to be used as ambulances are yet to be made operational.
Out of the newly ordered vehicles, a fleet of 29 ambulances has arrived, adding to 14 vehicles which remain stationed outside the health directorate for months. One health department observer questioned the haste with which the new lot of vehicles has been purchased.
“It is clear that the department officials for obvious reasons are more interested in purchasing vehicles rather than making them operational. Already 14 ambulances, purchased early this year, have been gathering dust outside the health directorate,’’ he said.
The director general ( DG) of state health services Dr T C Pant said that the fleet of the emergency ambulance service has become old.
“This is why such ambulances are being replaced in a phased manner. After necessary fabrication, all these ambulances would be made operational,” he said.
To infuse a new lease of life into the ageing fleet of 108 services, 61 new vehicles had been purchased by the health department in March this year. However, in the absence of refurbishment, these vehicles manufactured by Tata Motors remained stationed at office of DG health for months. The department in October this year supplied 47 of these vehicles for 108 services while remaining are still waiting to be transferred. In the meantime, the department further ordered 78 more vehicles following which the company has started giving delivery.
It is pertinent to mention here that most of the vehicles in the fleet of 108 ambulance service are old and most of them need immediate replacement.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) mandates that the ambulances should be replaced after three years or after they cover 1.5 lakh kilometres whichever happens first. Interestingly all the ambulances of the emergency 108 services, barring those handed over recently, have turned obsolete.