Leh, country’s largest district, has only four ambulances

Leh, country’s largest district, has only four ambulances
Archit Watts
Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 30
Leh, the largest district of the country in terms of area (45,110 sq km), has an acute shortage of ambulances. The district, which comprises 113 villages, has only four ambulances to cater to patients of the far-flung areas.

While replying to a question asked by Narboo Gialchan of the Congress in the Upper House, Health Minister Sham Lal Sharma said today that the people of Leh were suffering due to the non-availability of ambulances.

“As per the criteria fixed by the state government, Leh district has been sanctioned 17 ambulances, but so far only four ambulances have been provided to the hospitals there,” said Sham Lal, during Question Hour.

In the detail provided to the House, the minister said two out of four ambulances were provided in 2009-2010 under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).

However, he assured the House that only Leh was facing the problem, as all other districts were provided with adequate number of ambulances.

He said, “For example, take Doda district which is more prone to accidents, there we have provided 27 ambulances against the sanctioned strength of 18 ambulances”.

Dissatisfied over the minister’s reply, legislators Murtaza Ahmad Khan of the PDP and Naresh Gupta of the Congress also raised supplementary questions.

“There is no hard and fast rule while sanctioning the ambulances in all districts,” Sham Lal said.

He added, “The Health Department takes decision keeping in view the requirements”.

However, he did not assure the House to provide more ambulances to the district.

As per the criteria fixed by the state government, Leh district has been sanctioned 17 ambulances, but so far only four ambulances have been provided to the hospitals there — Sham Lal Sharma, Health Minister