Valpoi CHC staff using ambulance for their official visits

VALPOI: Locals from Sattari taluka have raised their objections and have complained over the issue of the staff of Community Health Center, Valpoi using 108 ambulances for rural dispensary and for sub-health centers visits, despite having their own vehicles.

This leads to inconvenience to locals, especially during emergencies and periods when the locals need the ambulance services. 

Locals have voiced their complaint that when there is a serious call or a casualty, the ambulance is mostly not available, due to which they have to face several hardships.

The locals have now demanded that the Health Minister Vishwajit Rane look into this serious matter immediately and take action against those responsible. 

Locals also allege that most of the staff working in the community health center have been provided the job by the health minister and say are close to the health minister. Perhaps tey are taking advantage of this fact and are not doing their duty properly and even behaving rudely and wrongly with the locals, whenever they visit the health centre. This has been happening for the past many months, irate locals point out. 

Giving examples, locals point out that during the Mega Health Camp, the health centre staff used the services of 108 ambulances, particularly while travelling in the panchayat area. 

This too, despite having their vehicles parked near the community health centre, Valpoi. Villagers point out that the ambulances were kept parked near the mega health camp, leading to frustration and suffering for those who sought the services of the ambulance during that period. Even emergency calls were ignored, they say.

The villagers also say the driver of the ambulance also did not receive emergency calls.

A local, Vinod Gurav says a 108 ambulance driver has been repeatedly not receiving emergency calls, adding that whenever locals called him they found his cell phone switched off during most parts of the day. 

Another local too acknowledged this, saying the driver rarely received any calls and on rare cases when they get through, the driver gives various excuses and in most cases replies that the 108 ambulance was not working properly.

Locals want the minister to intervene, restore the ambulance services in the village and take immediate action.