Believe or not! The state health department is unaware aboutambulances running on the Goan roads.
Despite of provision in the Goa Public Health (Amendment)rules, 2010, till date the department has just received one application forregistration which is still not granted.
Any vehicle which is painted in white with cross on it can’tbe an ambulance.
According to Goa Public Health act of 1985 and which wasamended in 2010, all ambulances in the State have to be granted permit fromDirectorate of Health Service for a fee of Rs 4000 but surprisingly till dateonly one application was received.
Speaking to the Goan Deputy Director of Directorate ofHealth Services Dr Mohandas said: “An ambulance, carrying patients, has to havea stretcher, provision for oxygen cylinder and a hook for I.V. drips. It’s onlyin case of emergency that a medical person has to compulsorily accompany thepatient”.
Convenor of Goascan Roland Martin said that the CitizenCharter of directorate of health services speaks about forward transfer peoplevehicle and not about ambulances. “The problem with ambulances in the State isthat there is no standardization, as only “108” can be treated as an ambulanceby definition,” Martin said.
During the course of our investigation it was revealed thatthe Directorate of Health Service has no records of any private ambulances inthe State. Currently the State has 309 ambulances. Out of 309, 220 are privateambulances which comprises major portion of State share while EMRI services hasgot 31 ambulances which is covering 11 talukas. EMRI has got two neonatalambulances for both districts.
Surprisingly, the health department has got only 56ambulances.
“We are not keeping track of private ambulances in theState. It’s a boost for the State if private people come forward and offerservices to general public. But if they charge exorbitantly then we shallinterfere and take action,” Dr Mohandas said.
“We would like to request all private ambulance owners tomaintain minimum standard and also registrar themselves with all competitiveauthorities and request the transport department to insist on asking them totake NOC from the health department,” the deputy director said.
“Under the Goa Public Health Act we have just till datereceived only one application from Wockhardt Hospital, who have approached usfor ambulance license but it was not granted as it was not fulfilling norms,”Dr Mohandas added.
