Pramesh S Jain & Yogesh K Porwar
*
My sincere apologies to people for interruption in ambulance services.
*Normal services will be restored soon.
There is some technical glitch in the 108 – Ambulance service call centre and measures are being taken to rectify the issue.
However,there is no need to panic as alternative steps have been taken to ensure uninterrupted service and restore normal functioning of the system,said Health Minister Dr.K.Sudhakar.
Speaking to media Dr.Sudhakar said there is some issue in the hardware and the GVK-EMRI company which is handling the contract has rectified it.
Since the system is 15 years old, it is vulnerable to malware attack.Technicians have resolved the mother board issue.
Principal secretary chaired a video conference with all district level officials to ensure that ambulances services are uninterrupted.
Calls are being serviced normally now and 4-5 decentralised back up centres have been established in each district.
Health department has undertaken several measures to ensure uninterrupted ambulance service across the state despite technical glitch.
108 call centre has a system to allocate ambulance within 2 minutes through an automated system.
Due to technical glitch the turn around time has now increased to 6-7 minutes.Since it is an emergency and essential service backup server has been installed.
Although it is a technical glitch I convey my sincere apologies to people for interruption in service.However,our health department at district level has worked proactively to quickly put in place a contingency plan and ensure unhindered service,minister said.
Hospitals have been instructed to accord first priority to inter-facility transfers.Ambulance drivers have been asked to respond calls that come to their personal mobile numbers by creating manual IDs, said Dr.Sudhakar.
The manpower in 112 call centre has been increased from the existing,2-3 to 7-8 and calls to 108 are being redirected to 112 for generating manual IDs.
We are also utilizing 104 call centre to reduce the load on 108 call centre. We are also reaching out to missed calls, said the minister.
New Ambulance Service Provider
The services of GVK,which is currently the vendor,has not been satisfactory.However, the matter is subjudice and we have already floated new tender as per court order.
We can expect new vendor with enhanced services within one month.The new service will have latest technical features and will be a model in the entire country.
Everything should not be seen though political lens
Reacting to Leader of opposition Siddaramiah’s comment that corruption is the main reason for Ambulance issue,Minister said Siddaramaiah doesn’t understand technical issues.
He must understand the facts before commenting. Everything should not be seen though political lens, he said.
Congress has been targetting certain communities
Congress has always been targeting Lingayat community.They brought down Veerendra Patil from CMship who had won a mandate of 173 seats.
They didn’t allow Kenal Hanumantaiah to inaugurate Vidhana Soudha who built it.
They didn’t even treat SM Krishna respectfully, who gave good administration.Congress is deliberately targeting certain communities, Dr.Sudhakar said.
