LARKANA:Out of nine ambulances of Chandka Medical College Hospital (CMCH) Larkana, one has been taken away by anti-encroachment cell of Larkana Municipal Corporation and eight are working in the largest tertiary-care hospital of rural Sindh.
Sources told PPI on Saturday that out of eight ambulances two are reportedly to be fit to travel to Karachi while other vehicles are over 18 years old and not fit for road.
An official of CMCH Transport Section said that he shifted his daughter to Karachi through a private ambulance which charged him Rs13000 whereas the charge of CMCH ambulance is between Rs18000 to Rs19000.
However, Dr. Masood Solangi, Director General, Health Services, Sindh, Hyderabad, in a clarification, issued on 17th September, 2019, said that some media reports had claimed on 17th September that Sindh Health Department has 700 latest model ambulances allocated to different hospitals for the transportation of critically sick patients. Each vehicle is properly documented, having required drivers and other trained staff and necessary equipment including uninterrupted oxygen supply provision, maintenance of record of movement and under strict vigilance, he had further asserted.
Their POL and repair budgets are duly provided to the Medical Superintendents concerned and consumption audited accordingly, Dr. Solangi. He said 188 vehicles are stationed for minor repair and maintenance. They will be on-road without any delay. Ambulances are never allowed and/or used for the purpose other than the prescribed jobs, he claimed. No official is allotted any hospital ambulance for the routine movement.
Sindh Health Department has its own network to keep vigilance on ambulance working. Furthermore, it is also clarified that ambulance services at all hospitals are provided free of cost. Thousands of patients are being transported inside hospitals and out of health facilities daily without changing any amount, he claimed without verifying the ground realities.
Dr. Solangi had termed media reports ‘contrary to our services are preconceived, fabricated and based on speculations’, but ground facts negate his tall claims.