Missing ambulances to be searched in Kavrepalanchowk

By Kedar Timalsina,Banepa, Jan. 7: Ambulances that are not registered or out of contact in the Kavrepalanchowk district will be searched. The District Ambulance Management Committee’s meeting held under the coordination of Rudradevi Sharma, Chief District Officer, decided to investigate the condition of ambulances in the district.

The meeting formed a four-member investigation committee to investigate the missing ambulances in the district. According to the committee, the committee members will consist of Methinkot Hospital, Dispatch Centre in Dhulikhel Hospital and the Health Branch of the concerned municipality. 

The committee will investigate the category of ambulances operating in the district. It will then prepare an investigation report about the problem of non-standard ambulances and submit it to the District Ambulance Management Committee within three to seven days. In the same meeting, the CDO decided to set a two-month deadline for the operation of ambulances according to the standards of the National Ambulance Directive 2078, section 11. The CDO will also ask the local levels, provincial hospitals, and health institutions to connect the operating ambulances with GPS and operate them according to the upgraded standards.

The CDO said that the meeting also decided to request the Provincial Ambulance Management Committee for the training of ambulance drivers and health workers. 

In the meeting, Anita Khanal, Acting Head of the Health Office Kavrepalanchowk, gave information about the condition of ambulances in the district. She said that 39 ambulances have been registered in the district so far, but there is no data about the condition of those ambulances. "It has been found that Dhulikhel Hospital is operating Class A ambulances in the district, but many Class B ambulances are operating at the municipal level," said Khanal. 

Dr Sanu Krishna Shrestha, Head of the Emergency Department in Dhulikhel Hospital, gave information about the work of the dispatch centre in Dhulikhel Hospital. Shrestha expressed concern that the integrated ambulance service which started from Kavrepalanchowk has not been operating systematically lately.

The government issued the integrated ambulance and pre-hospital service management guidelines in 2021 and started the ambulance service through the dispatch centre. Following the guidelines of the government, the ambulances of Kavrepalanchowk and Sindhupalchowk are operated through the dispatch centre established in Dhulikhel Hospital, but since the last year, the ambulances of both districts have left the dispatch centre. 

After the ambulance is operated through the dispatch centre, the condition of the actual location of the ambulance will be discovered and the driver will not be able to do as they please.

Shrestha said that since the time of Corona, a total of 47 ambulances including 27 from Kavrepalanchowk district and 20 from Sindhupalchowk have been handed over to the dispatch centre.