Civil hospital stops ambulance service

KARACHI: Civil Hospital, Karachi has temporarily stopped its ambulance service, Daily Express has learnt.

A transport department official said that the vehicles were not of the proper quality and would keep breaking down every other day. The hospital has eight hi-roof vans and two larger ones. This has affected people who need to transport the bodies of people who expire at the hospital. They need to now turn to private services which charge.

Sources in the transport department said that expensive parts from the ambulances had been stolen and many of the designated drivers had been called away on ‘VIP’ duty. Some ambulances have been taken away for repairs. Some are being used as personal vehicles.

The transport department gets Rs4.5 million for fuel a year but it isn’t enough and many times officers take it, leaving the ambulances short.

The Express Tribune learnt in August that the Sindh Ministry of Health was in the process of buying especially equipped ambulances that will provide intensive and immediate medical care services. They will be distributed among the teaching hospitals of Sindh, including CHK.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th, 2010.