Financial crunch to hit govt ambulance chain for all districts

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An ambulance chain for all districts catering to the emergency cases will remain as a distant dream as the state government has decided to put on hold the decision due to financial crunch.

''We know that there are such few major projects which has not been implemented till now even though the proposal was mooted during the tenure of the previous government. But every project cannot be taken up at the same time now. We have decided to give more focus on e-health and comprehensive health policy at present,’’ said K K Shylaja, health minister.

The decision in 2014 was to purchase 570 ambulances including 287 basic life support (BLS) and 283 patient transport ambulances. Even though tender for purchasing these ambulances was invited twice, it had to be dropped due to the objection from the finance department then. For this Centre had given its share of Rs 50 crore through National Rural Health Mission then on the condition that the state government will have to contribute its share for the project.

It is learnt that the idea of purchasing 283 patient transport ambulances will be shelved and the government will only consider the purchasing of the BLS ambulances since the actual cost for this will be only Rs 40 crore. However, the finance department has to give the final nod for this.

The KMSCL has also written to the state government seeking replacement for the 43 108 ambulances of which half of them are under maintenance. The KMSCL has observed that none of the ambulances are fit for operation and hence it has to be replaced soon. ``Almost all the ambulances are eight years old and have covered almost 2.5 lakh kms. Hence it is not viable to operate the ambulance chain with these set of ambulances,’’ said Gokul.

Now the idea is to replace the 108 ambulances with the BLS ambulances. Once the BLS ambulances are purchased then the 43 108 ambulances will be given to different hospitals. ``But the government has to decide on purchasing the BLS ambulances,’’ said Gokul. In Thiruvananthapuram 25 and in Allappuzha 18 ambulances of 108 chain were being operated of which only half of them are on the roads now.

During the tenure of the previous UDF government there was also confusion over the operation of the ambulance chain by the KMSCL. There was an attempt to give this charge to Keltron. Hence now the government will have to take a decision on who should operate this ambulance chain.

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