BHUBANESWAR: Amid allegations of delay in shifting serious COVID-19 patients to hospitals in the Capital city, the State government has decided to outsource 20 more ambulances having GPS trackers. The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) now has 44 ambulances including two each that are provided to the offices of three Zonal Deputy Commissioners (ZDCs).
Twenty more GPS enabled ambulances will be outsourced this week which will take the total number of government managed ambulances to 64. The GPS trackers will help in finding out how much time it takes for an ambulance to reach the patient’s doorstep and move him/her to hospital for admission.
"We have a strict provision of shifting patients within an hour. The usual time it takes to shift a patient is 30 to 45 minutes. However, the exponential growth in cases in the last two weeks has thrown up unprecedented challenges," said a health official and added that in the last 24 hours, 200 patients in home isolation required shifting to hospitals leading to rise in ambulance demand.
Drivers are also facing difficulty in finding the exact location of patients due to the night curfew and weekend shutdown. "Earlier, if the drivers could not locate the patient address, they used to ask people. But with the curfew and shutdown, there is no one on the road from whom they can seek help. Besides, not many drivers have android mobile phones with maps which can make things easier," said the official.
The city as of April 17 had 1,606 (70 per cent) patients in home isolation, which has now increased to around 4,100 (80 per cent). The increasing number of active cases may worsen the situation further, the health officer said and added that the Regional Transport Officers (RTOs) have been asked to remain ready for requisition of more ambulances, if required.
A senior health officer in the Capital Hospital said that ambulance service for shifting of COVID patients could have been managed well had there been a proper mechanism. "The GPS enabled ambulances are being outsourced only because it is becoming difficult to track the movement of the existing ambulances," he said.
He added that now the drivers of the old ambulances have been asked to report to the COVID management cell at the time of visiting patient and after his/her admission without fail for effective management of their movement.