Amid surge in Covid-19 cases, Delhi govt to add 25 CATS ambulances within a week

A senior official, who asked not to be named, said the government will add 25 ambulances to its 609-strong fleet in a week.

The Delhi government is expanding its fleet of Centralised Accident and Trauma Services (CATS) ambulances to meet the growing demand in the Capital amid the crippling surge in Covid-19 cases, health department officials aware of the matter said on Thursday.

Private ambulance operators meanwhile said demand has increased by at least five times compared to the past few months. (HT Photo)

A senior official, who asked not to be named, said the government will add 25 ambulances to its 609-strong fleet in a week.

Officials said the number of calls on the state government’s 102 ambulance helpline has doubled as compared to January and February, when cases had dipped. The CATS control room, linked with the helpline, has received around 2,400- 2,800 requests every day for the past two weeks. Nearly 60% of these calls are related to Covid-19, said officials.

“The number of calls has increased consistently since mid-March,” said a senior official in charge of the control room.

Private ambulance operators meanwhile said demand has increased by at least five times compared to the past few months.

In January, Delhi reported an average of 314 new Covid-19 positive cases every day. In February, this number fell to 150, but shot up to 747 in March. The surge has hit unprecedented proportions in April.

Between April 1 and April 21, Delhi has added an average of 12,750 cases a day.

In the backdrop of the surge, residents of the Capital have also called the 112 police helpline in search of ambulances. Officials said the helpline receives at least 150 such requests a day.

A Delhi government officer, who asked not to be named, said, “We are in the process of arranging 25 more ambulances, which will arrive within four or five days. We have a dedicated team that analyses the volume of calls from each district. The ambulances are then deployed accordingly, so that no one is denied the service. It takes 20 minutes to reach a location after we get a distress call. It may take longer because of the surge in calls, but not a single call is missed.”

Of the 609 ambulances, 229 belong to CATS, and the rest are outsourced to private firms, including GVK EMRI (55 ambulances), Rakshak (100) and MeduLance (75), as well as 150 ePrakriti cabs.

According to a CATS operator, the ambulance is sanitised after ferrying a Covid-19 positive patient.

Delhi on Thursday lodged a record 306 deaths due to the Covid-19 and registered 26,169 new cases with an alarmingly high positivity rate of 36.2%.

Pranav Bajaj, co-founder of MeduLance, said, “There has been a five-fold increase in the demand for ambulances over the past two to three weeks.”

MeduLance also operates its own fleet of 250 private ambulances in Delhi.

Jasbir Singh, owner of New Life Ambulance service, said, “All my vehicles are booked, but my phone hasn’t stopped ringing. I’m trying to arrange ambulances from other operators.”