Mumbai Police asks for adequate ambulances as cases within the force increase

Mumbai has reported a steady rise in the cases of coronavirus with the Police force writing to Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal asking for dedicated ambulances for its personnel in each of the city’s 13 zones.

Mumbai Police asks for adequate ambulances as cases within the force increase
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Mumbai has reported a steady rise in the cases of coronavirus with the Police force writing to Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal asking for dedicated ambulances for its personnel in each of the city’s 13 zones. So far, 656 policemen have tested positive for the virus of whom eight have succumbed to the disease.

The letter which was signed by Joint Commissioner of Police Nawal Bajaj, was sent Monday after the COVID-19 helpline number, set up by the Mumbai Police to give aid to the coronavirus patients, received numerous requests for ambulances, as per the officials.

An official speaking to the media has stated the COVID-19 helpline receives about 50 calls every day, of which almost 15-20 calls are from a policeman with symptoms of the infection. At least 20 calls are for an ambulance.

The department so far has two dedicated ambulances. However, with the cases of coronavirus increasing steadily, police officials have said that these ambulances were proving insufficient to the point of despair. Usually, when an ambulance goes to pick up a patient, it takes a couple of hours to pick him up and drop him to a hospital post which sanitization of the space is required. This takes time which makes it extremely difficult to help all the police personnel in need who are calling in every day for assistance. These two ambulances are usually placed in Marol and Naigaon. The ambulance in Marol looks after patients in the west and north regions, while the one at Naigaon looks after the policemen in central and south areas.

Mumbai has been facing a huge shortage of ambulances in the midst of the pandemic, which has further increased response time in attending to COVID-19 and other patients. Currently, the Maharashtra Emergency Ambulance Service (MEMS) that runs 108 toll-free helplines, has allocated 66 ambulances for coronavirus patients and 30 ambulances for other patients in the city.


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