IN A move to unload the financial burden of operations and maintenance, district administration has handed over the marketing and management of ambulance services, which the District Red Cross Society headed by District Collector Vivek Aggarwal launched last year, to a private firm.
The firm, Means and Ways, will bear the loss and lend 20 per cent of its total profit to Red Cross for running ambulance service - Rays of Hope. “This way, we have ensured that ambulance services will not close down as there is a company to take care of sustainability. In addition, Red Cross will get revenue,” SDM and officer in-charge of district health services Chandramauli Shukla told Hindustan Times.
The monthly expenditure of Rays of Hope is over Rs 1.35 lakh. It needs to receive minimum 40 calls a day to reach breakeven point. Even since its inception, its call centre has never received more than 35 calls. This raised feasibility crisis and the Society had to pump in additional funds to keep the system in place. As a result, tenders were floated for the operators.
The floated bid made amply clear that the bidder will not only market the Rays of Hope but will turn it into a financially viable venture. To the eight ambulance vans plying at present, the company is expected to add one new vehicle every year.
{{/usCountry}}The floated bid made amply clear that the bidder will not only market the Rays of Hope but will turn it into a financially viable venture. To the eight ambulance vans plying at present, the company is expected to add one new vehicle every year.
{{/usCountry}}The ambulance vans are stationed at Bombay Hospital, Apollo Hospital, Gokuldas Hospital and MY Hospital among other places.