Inadequacy of ambulances in Bengaluru force COVID patients to wait for 4 hours

Around 1,500 COVID patients waited for more than three hours on average to get an ambulance in Karnataka's Bengaluru in the last 10 days. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) official said that the department has only 200 ambulances of which only 163 are operational.

Bengaluru: With a record 1,925 new cases across the state during the last 24 hours, Karnataka's Covid-19 tally rose to 23,474 including 13,251 active after 9,847 were discharged till date. Due to the enormous spike in the cases, the Karnataka government is facing huge criticism as the patents have to wait for nearly 4-5 hours for an ambulance. The matter came in highlight after a 65-year-old COVID patient, collapsed by the roadside near his house while waiting for an ambulance on Friday.

According to the report, around 1,500 COVID patients waited for more than three hours on average to get an ambulance in the country's hi-tech city in the last 10 days.

When ETV Bharat contacted Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) official regarding the inadequacy of the vehicles, the official said that department has only 200 ambulances of which only 163 are operational.

One ambulance needs almost 3-4 hours, from picking up the patient to dropping the sufferer. After completing the trip, the vehicle needs to be sanitised and the driver of the vehicle has to take a bath. This standard procedure takes more than 2 hours and then the vehicle needs to be kept idle for an hour. Accordingly, if we calculate the situation, an ambulance could complete only 3 trips in a day.

"We have to wait for almost four hours to reach the COVID-19 dedicated hospital. It seems the BBMP authority has not coordination with the hospital authority as many patients have to roam to one hospital to another after they denied admission in the hospital", said an ambulance driver to ETV Bharat.