The ambulance services of Sindh government hospitals are in very dilapidated condition throughout the province and urgently need attention from authorities concerned to maintain and repair them, it was learned on Saturday.
An official at Health Department said that there were 310 ambulances in public sector hospitals of the province, out of which 150 were lying out of order while rest were being used by the administrative officials. The poor patients with emergency requirements have been left on the mercy of private rescue organizations.
The patients and their attendants at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center, Civil Hospital Karachi, National institute of Child Health, Sindh Government Children Hospital North Karachi, Sindh Government Lyari General Hospital and other public sector hospitals were facing immense problems in shifting their seriously ill patients from one place to another.
He said that 90 per cent of emergency cases were being dealt by private rescue organizations, while Sindh government had failed to launch its own ambulance service similar to Punjab’s Rescue 1122.
The ambulance service does not exist in Sindh province on a wide scale to rescue people in emergencies as well as transport patients. Health Secretary Dr Fazlullah Pechuho was not available for comments.