Agencies:

J&K to get 60 new critical care ambulances soon

J&K
December 28, 2020

Government is set to procure 60 critical care ambulances for augmenting the emergency and critical care services across the peripheries in J&K. However, experts say the �shortfall of adequate and trained staff in this respect� must be addressed first.

J&K has received approval from the World Bank Rs. 367 crore funding proposal to strengthen the healthcare system with a focus on emergency and critical care. Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education, Atal Dulloo, said that part of the WB funding will be utilized to procure 60 critical care ambulances that would add to the existing fleet of 140 ambulances running under 108 Ambulance Service.

He said that the department was taking measures to ensure that the emergency and critical care facilities were augmented at the peripheral level in addition to making the transit of patients to a referral center safer.

�The ambulance service that we started last year under 108 is not just a transport service from one hospital to another. We have been working hard, even during the pandemic, to make these fully equipped to help save lives,� he said.

However, many doctors working across the peripheral areas have expressed the need for augmenting the manpower trained to provide basic as well as advanced life support to make these ambulances �useful�.