Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan has demanded that the government cancel the contract awarded to a private company for operating the 108 emergency ambulance service.
In a letter to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Friday, Mr. Achuthanandan said that complaints were aplenty about the company which had been running the service during the past two years. He urged the government to operate it directly. The Comptroller and Auditor General had pointed out the grievous lapses in the service and that they were not providing adequate emergency support to the public. The operators’ control room received 1,92,181 calls between October 16 last and March 16, but they could not provide service to 1,73,220 callers. The GPS automatic vehicle tracking system was not functioning effectively. This was hampering the service.
As per the agreement, only five per cent ambulance vehicles could be withdrawn from the fleet on various grounds, but 21 per cent had been withdrawn, the CAG report said. Thus, the company had been depriving service to the public and reaping profit. Now moves were on to award the contract to the same company at the behest of Mr. Chandy, he said.
