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| Administrative inertia, official apathy makes patients suffer, die | | In 21st century, JK has no 'critical' air ambulances | | Early Times Report
SRINAGAR/JAMMU, Feb 1: Official claims and announcements notwithstanding, the Jammu and Kashmir Government has failed to procure air ambulances, a dire need in present times for shifting critical patients to tertiary care hospitals, despite approval from the Union Health Ministry three years back.
According to official sources, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had approved the proposal in year 2009, soon after former Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad took over as the Union Minister. However, on account of official apathy and lack of political will, the proposal is yet to take shape.
The State Government had made the proposal a part of the Emergency Management Response System (EMRS) for critically ill patients needing intervention at tertiary care or super speciality hospitals, the sources added.
"Two air ambulances to move seriously injured and critically ill people to super speciality hospitals in New Delhi or Chandigarh have long back been sanctioned by the Union Health Ministry, but till date there has been no headway", the sources said.
Experts believe the State having been marred by its specific constraints like low density of population, difficult terrain, problem of accessibility, poor road connectivity, limited presence of private sector / NGOs, makes it all the more important to have a well established air/heli-ambulance service. They said the State being located in seismic zone V makes it even more important to have such a service as part of its disaster response system.
Pertinently, the State's remote areas of Doda, Kishtwar, Rajouri and Poonch districts are notorious for bad roads. Even the 294-km Jammu-Srinagar highway is often closed by landslides or heavy snowfall. A number of people have died because they could not reach hospital on time.
Areas like Gurez, Tangdhar, Kargil, Leh etc. remain cut off from rest of the world for months together, which makes it essential for the State with difficult terrain and diverse geography to have a strong fleet of air ambulances.
Ironically, despite the former Health Minister, Sham Lal Sharma's announcement two years back that the State was planning to procure air ambulances, the dream is yet to be realized.
Meanwhile, the non-availability of the air ambulance service is turning out to be one of the main hurdles in evacuation of critically ill patients needing specialized treatment outside the State.
"My brother was suffering from a critical ailment and needed to be shifted to Delhi for treatment and when we contacted a private air ambulance service, they said it would cost us 4.5 lakh rupees to shift the patient", said Bilal Ahmad of Srinagar. "As we couldn't afford it, we had to take risk and shift the patient in a passenger airplane that too after using political influence", he added.
Medicos believe non-availability of air ambulances costs lives of poor patients in the State. "It is a huge problem for the people of the State. Many lives could be saved if the State Government keeps air ambulances available for patients", said a senior doctor at Shri Maharaja Hari Singh hospital here. He said, many patients brought to the hospitals die due to the time taken for them to be shifted from remote sites mainly after road traffic accidents to the hospital.
However, Commissioner Secretary Health and Medical Education, MK Dwivedi indicated that the proposal has been shelved on account of its non-viability. He said, although the proposal had been mooted, it won't be possible for the State to afford maintenance of the air ambulances. "We have taken up the issue with the Central Government for funding and the proposal lies with the Emergency Response Authority of GoI. Even if the Central Government provides us funds to procure the ambulances, it would be very difficult to maintain such a project.", Dwivedi said adding, "However, there is a proposal where private players could provide such a service so that the State does not have to maintain the project on its own".
While admitting that availability of such services was essential in the State, he said the State Government was working with the Central Emergency Response Authority on the proposal to ensure availability of air ambulances. |
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