An ambulance stationed outside a health centre caught fire during the wee hours, on Wednesday, in South-West Delhi's Najafgarh area, after dropping a patient to his house. While no mortalities were reported, the incident has once again brought out the much-hyped CATS ambulances under scanner.
As many as four cases of fire in ambulances have been reported since July 2016. Last year, two ambulances had caught fire in July, and one in April and May this year. The two gutted ambulances in July last year, worth more than Rs 20 lakh, were part of the 110 new ambulances bought by the Delhi government to add to the existing fleet of 155 CATS ambulances.
According to the sources, the Delhi government has failed to identify the reason for the fire that took place in July. "The department has still not identified the reasons for the fire that took place in ambulances last year. The report was to be submitted within three months but nothing has been done," a senior Delhi government official said.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in July last year had flagged off a fleet of 110 new CATS ambulances equipped with modern gadgets, in a bid to boost emergency services in the city.
There are 265 CATS ambulances running in various parts of the city. The Delhi government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for procuring 110 ambulances, 10 with advanced life support systems, and 100 with basic life support systems, in September 2015 for its 'home to hospital care' scheme, an emergency medical response service.
These ambulances are equipped with self-collapsible trolley stretcher, spine board, scoop stretcher, automated external defibrillator (AED), oxygen delivery system to handle medical emergencies. They also have transport ventilator and defibrillator cum monitor, syringe pump and lifesaving injectables.
On Wednesday, the fire department had received a call regarding the incident at around 2:45 am. The fire officials on the other hand claimed that they maintain a report regarding each fire incident.
LIFE SAVING
- Number of advanced life support ambulances 31
- Number of basic life support ambulances 110
- Total number of ambulance 265
...& ANALYSIS
As of now no one has been injured in the last four fire incidents, but, the government needs to ensure that safety analysis of the ambulances are done on regular basis
