Avinash Azad
Jammu, Jan 27: Critical care ambulances (CCA) procured 18 months ago have been left to rot in the NRHM's Nagrota yard for want of an eligible firm for modification of the CCAs. The ambulances were procured for all districts along the highway to cut down the number of deaths due to accidents.
The vehicles were supposed to have a helpline No of108 and 104for their effective operation.
"The state Health Department had purchased 25 ambulances (simple Tempo Travellor vehicles) more than one year ago. About twenty of these ambulances are parked at Nagrota yard of Health Department, since these were procured" sources said.
They said that the modification was delayed as no eligible firms were coming forward. "The facilities that are provided to a serious patient in an ICU will be given in CCA and fitting of equipments including Ventilator, Monitor, Oxygen kit, Generator set while others will take around three months" sources said.
They further said that after mooting the proposal, the Health Department had initiated process to equip simple ambulances with all critical care facilities and advertised tenders for the required equipment.
"The tenders were advertised and allotted to a firm, but in the meantime due to some unknown reasons, the state government asked Health department to re-advertise the tenders. When Health department canceled the tendering process and was pondering to re-advertise the tender, the firm which had been allotted the work, went to court and stayed the process", sources said. However, the court had recently directed the Health department to re-advertise tenders.
Preferring anonymity officials of Health department said that the tyres of most of the vehicles are damaged and the overall condition was also deteriorating as the vehicles have been parked in the open.
Director of Health Department Madhu Khullar, who also heads the purchasing committee, said that the tender has been flouted, after fitting of all equipments the CCA would be made operational.
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