A decision of the Tripura Mission of National Health Mission to suspend the 102 emergency (ambulance) service caused massive sufferings to the people in need, especially the pregnant women, for over 24 hours since Thursday evening.
While the reason behind the decision was unknown till the last information came in, an NHM official claimed that it was a ‘miscommunication’. The official said that the service was functional now. An employee in the emergency helpline also confirmed that the service had partially resumed.
Though the reason behind this decision is unknown yet, the suspension of the service has caused huge sufferings to the people in emergency. According to sources, a good number of calls were attended in the control as the people in need were looking for the ambulance service from various parts of the state. But, the call attendants couldn’t help the callers as the service was on hold.
When contacted, state head of 102 ambulance service Sahil Sehgal said the service was put on hold following an instruction from the National Health Mission.
The Mission Director, however, claimed that ‘it was a miscommunication and the service had already been resumed’.
| Also Read : Major reshuffle in police, 7 IPS and 17 TPS transferred in Tripura |
The service was launched with 50 Basic Life Support (BLS) ambulances in Agartala in March, 2020. Since then, the helpline- 102 continued to work as a support for the people in emergency, specially for the pregnant women in remote rural areas. Even during the time of Covid pandemic, many people were benefited by the helpline.
According to sources, Tripura government has undertaken a process to purchase 40 more BLS ambulances to strengthen the service.
