Sources said that out of the 265 vehicle on the roads, 240 of them are being denied fuel at most petrol-pumps due to non-payment of dues or are getting fuel in small quantities
Essential ambulance services in Delhi hit another roadblock as the vehicles required to ferry patients are allegedly running short of fuel. Sources said that out of the 265 vehicle on the roads, 240 of them are being denied fuel at most petrol-pumps due to non-payment of dues or are getting fuel in small quantities.
According to sources, the designated petrol pumps that the ambulances can use are directly paid for by a private agency - Bharat Vikas Group (BVG). Once the agency makes the payment to these petrol pumps, the ambulances to just go there for a refill.
But Anil Chhillar, Para-Medical Staff Head, West Zone, claims that the agency is not doing its job. "These petrol pumps are not being paid by the agency. On Tuesday we had calls from Narela and Najafgarh, both are far places and we did not have enough fuel in the vehicles. Since we cannot say no, eventually ambulances were sent from other locations which took longer than usual. Most of the time people are told that they will have to wait at least two hours before the ambulance and they end up making their own arrangements," he said.
However, refuting the allegations,the CATS ambulances Delhi Operations Head, Laxman Singh Rana, said that no such problem is being reported by the staff.
The CATS ambulances service helps over 8,000 patients every day in the city, in two different shifts. Earlier, the CATS staff union has highlighted several problems in the last one year since the private company took over including no sirens in many ambulances, no air conditioning, no oxygen, and most importantly no safety kits. None of the ambulances have swine flu kits and some even miss masks/gloves for the paramedical staff that runs them.
Earlier, the staff of CATS ambulances had announced an indefinite strike in August, due to an ongoing issue with the management. The strike was later postponed due to patients getting affected and the situation seemed to have normalised. Officials however told DNA that not much has change in the situation.
"We get only Rs. 500 or Rs. 700 for fuel a day for each vehicle, that's not how ambulances run. When we get emergency calls, we should not be worried about fuel in the car, that's the last thing a para-medical staff should bother himself with," said Deepak Chillar, Para-Medical Staff Head, North West Zone.
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