The GVK EMRI 108 Ambulance service slowly returned to normalcy with the State Government issuing the GO for pending budget. The service operators claimed that on Tuesday most of the halted ambulances had hit the road. The data of the emergency ambulance service reveal that the responses of the service for emergency calls had reduced to almost half since the fuel crisis hit the ambulance service.
The spokesperson of GVK EMRI 108 ambulance service Mohan Singh Rana informed The Pioneer that only 13 ambulances remained grounded on Tuesday. He said that 12 ambulances of Khushiyon Ki Savari ambulance service are also halted. On Monday, 58 ambulances of 108 service and 28 ambulances of ‘Khushiyon Ki Savari’ were not operational as the petrol pump owners refused to supply fuel to the ambulances due to pending bills i.e. Rs 3.5 crore.
The halting of the ambulances resulted in problems to the common public as this service plays a vital role in transporting patients to the nearest medical centre. The 108 ambulance fleet of state responds to about 400 emergency calls daily on a normal day but the fuel crisis reduced these responses to 229 on January 4 and 237 on January 5. Rana informed that the almost entire fleet of ambulances are now on road now and are operational. It was learnt that the initiative of Director General of Health services Dr G S Joshi helped the ambulance service to come back on track. Dr Joshi ordered all the Chief Medical Officers (CMO) to persuade the petrol pump owners to supply fuel to the ambulances as the state government has released the pending budget. On Monday the state government has issued a Government Order (GO) for release of Rs 10 crore for the ambulance service.
The GVK EMRI 108 ambulance service has a fleet of 139 Ambulances including a boat ambulance deployed in Tehri lake while Khushiyon Ki Savari ambulance service which caters the mothers and newly born children as it drops them to their home has 95 vehicles at its disposal.