Agali (Palakkad): Large amount of money has been spent by the Health Department of Kerala to hire private ambulances to ferry patients from the Tribal Hospital at Kottathara in the Attapadi area of Palakkad district even as demands from the local people to upgrade the hospital into a speciality facility and provide an ambulance with ventilator have been brushed aside citing lack of funds.
The government has spent over Rs 50 lakh since the previous financial year on ambulances.
A new ambulance could have been purchased exclusively for the government hospital at Kottathara with this amount, point out the local people, who belong mostly to tribal communities.
Even though there are five ambulances at the Kottathara hospital, three are damaged beyond repair. Meanwhile, over Rs 10 lakh was spent for the maintenance of the other two. With these two ambulances not in working condition most of the time, patients are being taken from the Tribal Hospital to other hospitals for advanced treatment in an ambulance owned by a private hospital at Attapadi, for which Rs 12 lakh was paid as rent. An additional Rs 11 lakh was paid to the ambulance of another private hospital at Kakkupadi and that of the Palliative Care Society.
Moreover, during medical emergencies, the services of ambulances stationed at Mannarkkad were also sought and expenses involved amounted to another Rs 2 lakh.
Above all this spending, the government used the ambulances of the Integrated Tribal Development (ITDP) project also. The amount paid in this regard was not revealed.
The government had also signed an agreement with the Cooperative Hospital for using ambulances and a whopping amount of Rs 68 lakh was paid as rent.
Probe ordered into infant, maternal deaths
Attapadi has been in the news recently after several infant and maternal mortality cases was reported.
The government has ordered a probe into the rising number of deaths of infants and mothers in Attapadi.
Dr P P Preetha, Additional Director, Family Welfare in the Health Department will conduct the inquiry, assisted by a paediatrician and a gynaecologist from Palakkad district.
