Flying squad conducts surprise check, finds ambulances sans GPS, medicines

Panipat, June 27

A joint team of the Chief Minister’s Flying Squad and CID teams carried out a sudden inspection of the ambulances in the civil hospitals in Panipat and Sonepat on Thursday and found several anomalies in these. The action was taken following the complaints of lack of provision of ambulances to the patients on time.

As per details, there are a total of eight ambulances — four advance life support vehicles, three basic life support vehicles and one Kilkari vehicle — in the district and all were found operational. The team found the improper cleanliness conditions in the ambulances.

In two of the ambulances, GPS was not found, the monitor was not functional. The medicine kit was also missing in an ambulance. Stickers were found torn and the biometric was not functional on these. It was mandatory for a woman employee on the Kilkari ambulance, but none had been appointed. Apart from this, there was a shortage of staff in the ambulance against the sanctioned post. A total of 113 posts — including one fleet manager, four control room operator, 38 EMTs and 70 drivers — are sanctioned in Panipat while a total 64 employees are working. There was no fleet manager, 15 EMTs and 37 driver posts were vacant.

In Sonepat, the team checked the records and found 30 out of 32 ambulances without a pollution certificate. No GPS, biometric device and CCTV cameras were found in an ambulance. Oxygen regulator glass was also found broken and the AC and siren of three ambulances were non-functional. Some posts of staff were also vacant here.