BENGALURU: Apart from seeking to penalise ambulances for late arrivals during emergencies, the department of health and family welfare has proposed to add 300 new ambulances to its fleet in the state. The proposal for the Rs-150 cr plan has been sent to the cabinet for its approval.The department which has 711 ambulances under its 108 Emergency Service, has also identified close to 200 existing one which need to be replaced.
Dr Swatantrakumar Bankar, Deputy Director, Directorate of Health and Family Welfare, said right now there is one ambulance for every 90,000 patients and if 300 more are added, the patient count per ambulance will come down to 50,000 patients.
The proposal says if an ambulance service does not reach the location within 20 minute, then the service provider will have to shell out Rs 1,000 for every extra minute. There will be a two-member squad in every district to conduct surprise checks on the service and whether ambulance drivers drive drunk. “This is the first time we have come out with the proposal. Many a time, ambulances do not reach the spot on time. In urban areas, the time limit to reach the spot is 20 minutes and in rural areas, it is 30 minutes. If they reach even one minute late, they will have to pay Rs 1,000 for every extra minute,” Dr Bankar said. A citizen app will be created to help people call in ambulances. It will have a slot for complaints on the ambulances and a GPS tracking system, he said.
A separate district monitoring unit will be set up to monitor the ambulances, he said.“Through the monitoring unit, a better communication will be developed between ambulances and referral hospitals. In many cases, even after an ambulance picks up a patient and goes to a hospital, the hospital will be unaware of it,” Dr Bankar said.
The tenure of the service provider who is running the ambulances has come to an end and fresh tenders have been invited.