By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI- Karachi having a population of more than 20 million immediately required 5,000 more state-of-the-art ambulances to prevent emergency-like situation in future, opined Pakistan Medical Association’s (Center) secretary-general Dr Mirza Ali Azhar.
He also urged the Sindh government to up-grade its existing ambulances services across the province,
especially in Karachi, on international pattern to provide quality first-aid treatment facilities to patients while shifting them to health care facilities.
He said public sector hospitals’ ambulances services should be equipped with latest gadgets and staff should be trained to provide first-aid facilities to patients during their shifting to hospitals.
The PMA, he added, was willing to train the staff and volunteers of both government and private ambulance services.
Endorsing Dr Mirza’s views, a senior PMA leader Dr SM Qaiser Sajjad said that around 5000 well-equipped ambulances are immediately required to cope with the emergency-like situation similar to the one faced by the city during recent heatstroke tragedy caused by punishing heat coupled with prolonged power cuts, unannounced loadshedding and water shortage.
He said that recent havoc caused by heatstroke has exposed the working of the officials of Sindh health department.
Dr Sajjad was of the view that every teaching hospital of the city must be given at least 50 ambulances and these vehicles must be equipped with latest equipments.