Irregularities in the functioning of the state ambulance service have surfaced once again.

The State Health Society, Bihar, has issued showcause notices to the civil surgeons and district programme managers of 17 districts demanding reasons for fewer-than-expected trips made by 102 ambulances in their districts.

Civil surgeons of Patna, Sheohar, Kaimur, Buxar, Sitamarhi, Gopalgunj, West Champaran, Arwal, Aurangabad, Gaya, Patna, Begusarai, Siwan, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Bhojpur and Muzaffarpur have been issued showcause notices in this regard.

“Six to seven trips a day is the standard average. Some districts perform even better with eight and more trips a day. Showcause notices have been issued to districts, demanding the reason for their failure in maintaining the standard average of trips. If we can improve the number of trips, we can even reach out to more than 30,000 people a day,” said State Health Society, Bihar, executive director Lokesh Kumar Singh.

Singh said the 102 ambulance service was now run by the consortium of Samman Foundation and Pashupatinath Distributors Private Limited. “The ambulance service has been facing problems as the private agencies don’t pay the drivers and technicians working with the ambulances on time. The drivers go on strike owing to which the service gets hampered for few days until the strike if lifted. There is nothing to worry. We will handle it,” he added.

Sources from State Health Society, Bihar, said the health department had incorporated many points in the MoU, to ensure that agencies running the ambulance service and workers associated with it don’t upset the service easily.

“Earlier, it was found that on many occasions, patients were deliberately taken by the ambulance driver to private hospitals. This time, the agreement specifies that the patients have to be taken to government hospitals or the driver and EMT worker would land up in jail. Besides, these ambulances are equipped with GPS. The GPS will help us track ambulances. There is provision to penalise an agency for faulty operations. We are also going to install GPS in old ambulances run by district health societies,” said a source.

The state ambulances running under 102 service are equipped with echocardiogram facility, defibrillator and oxygen cylinder among others and will be made available in all districts. These are supposed to ferry pregnant women for free pre- and post-delivery.

Free services are also supposed to be provided to children aged up to one-year-old if they are being taken to government hospitals and below poverty-line families, senior citizens, accident victims and kala-azar patients can also avail of free service of these ambulances.