Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik flagged off 24 new Basic Life Support ambulances and 299 modified Advanced Life Support ambulances at his residence ‘Naveen Niwas’ in Bhubaneswar on Thursday evening.
Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister said with the new addition, ambulance services can now be available in every block of the state. Till now, 624 ambulances including 512 basic life saving (BLS) ambulances and 112 advanced life saving (ALS) ambulances have been providing free services to the people of 30 districts. Besides, 6 boat ambulances are also in operation, he added.
The new ALS ambulances have been converted from BLS ambulances. With this, the number of state-of-the-art ALS ambulances has gone up to 411 in the state. The government has spent Rs 52 crore in this regard.
Naveen further said the government has made budgetary provision for 92 new emergency ambulances in a phased manner. Of those, 24 new ambulances have already been procured at a cost of Rs 9.6 crore.
Besides, 500 Janni Express ambulances are operating to take pregnant mothers and sick children to the hospital. More than 88 lakh people have benefited from ambulance services.
Health Minister Niranjan Pujari, Health Secretary Shalini Pandit and senior officials of the health department were present in the program.
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