A 108 Ambulance allotted to Chorao Island three years ago, was sent for repairs in November 2014, causing great hardship to the island’s residents.
Speaking to Herald, Acting Sarpanch Shamba Kalangutkar said, “In my ward just a few days ago, ex-sarpanch Sanjay Kandolkar’s mother came in contact with live current and fell unconscious.
A 108 ambulance was summoned to the site, but it took the ambulance nearly two-and-half hours to reach the spot. This angered residents in the ward.”
Enquiries later revealed that the ambulance was delayed as the vehicle sent from Sanquelim was in the process of shifting another patient to GMC hospital at Bambolim and so an ambulance from Mapusa was dispatched to Chorao.
“The 108 ambulance allotted to Chorao Island was taken away on November 15, 2014 and we made several representations to authorities, requesting them to expedite the repairs, so that the ambulance could resume services at Chorao Island. We even requested local MLA Anant Shet to look into the matter, but till now there has been no response,” he added.
“The 108 ambulance service has been withdrawn from Chorao Island on many occasions and we were never intimated about the disruption in these services,” Kalangutkar said.
The 108 Ambulance officer in charge, Pratishta Mudrat, said the vehicle needed major repairs and estimated that it could take another month for it to be roadworthy.
