Chandigarh, February 23: To provide emergency services incongested areas of cities, the Health & Family Welfare Minister Mr. BalbirSingh Sidhu on Tuesday flagged off 22 small Ambulances for each district ofPunjab.
Disclosing this here today, Mr. Sidhu said that theseAmbulances will be used apart from Ambulances running under 108 help-line.These will be helpful for operation in small narrow lanes to ensure quickemergency services to the patients. He said that each van accommodates 5attendants apart from patient and driver with easy manoeuvrability in cityconditions.
The Ambulance is factory fitted with all the essentialequipment including foldable stretcher cum trolley, medical kit box, provisionfor oxygen cylinder with internal lighting and announcement system, he added.
To fulfill the shortage of ambulances in the governmenthospitals, Mr. Sidhu said that the health department had procured new 180 moreambulances and all 22 Districts have their independent ALS Ambulances (AdvanceLife Support) which are fully equipped with life-saving equipment such asVentilators, Defibrillators, Multi-Para Patient Monitor, Suction Machine,Nebulizers etc.
He said that now, the Health department has a total of 422Ambulances in its fleet to cover all areas of cities and villages.
The Minister said that these ambulances proved, one of the main pillars to fight the pandemic byreducing the time required for transit of critical patients to required healthfacilities. He said that at a time when the numbers of positive patients areexpected to increase, the addition of these new ambulances will further give aboost to fight the pandemic.
Mr. Sidhu divulged that these ambulances in the State havebeen deputed at Strategic places and efforts are being made in case of Emergency, Ambulances would reach the placewithin 20 minutes in Urban areas.