Poor ambulance service in city

After a person died in an accident at Nizamuddin railway station due to lack of medical facilities, questions are being raised about the safety of people travelling by Metro in the Millennium City. The lives of accident victims and patients are at risk as the city has a poor ambulance service.


Metro officials, on the condition of anonymity, said that in several cases they had to send patients by autorickshaws or other mode of transport to hospital as ambulance could not reach the station in time.

However, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) says that it is well prepared to deal with any medical emergency. The civil hospital provides the ambulance service.
"We are prepared to deal with any medical emergency. Ambulances reach a Metro station within five minutes in case of an emergency. Besides, our staff have been given training for first aid," said a DMRC spokesperson.

Road accident victims, too, have to face the similar problem. It would be clear from a recent incident when the office of DCP (traffic) in Sector 51 made a call to the civil hospital for an ambulance. The ambulance responded after one hour. Taking it seriously, the traffic police have written to chief medical officer of the civil hospital to make the emergency medical service effective.

There are only 10 ambulances for the Gurgaon district. "The city needs more ambulances to reduce the response time to save more life," said Dr. Praveen Garg, CMO, Gurgaon civil hospital.