Kadapa and Chittoor districts, tucked away in the southern corner of the State, form the core of the Rayalaseema region and are hence synonymous to backwardness. Also, they have every reason to hog the limelight on any given issue, as they are represented respectively by the Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and the Opposition leader Nara Chandrababu Naidu.
In all, Kadapa got 87 vehicles, 51 in the ‘104’ category and 36 ‘108’ ambulances. Of the 36 vehicles, two are neonatal care vehicles dedicated exclusively for Proddatur and Rajampet revenue divisions, to meet the emergency needs of the villages tucked away from Kadapa, which has considerably better medical infrastructure. "Barring these two, 25 of the remaining vehicles have Basic Life Support (BLS) and nine have Advanced Life Support (ALS) system," says N.S. Iqbal Hussain, District Manager of 108 and 104 vehicles. There are 17 more vehicles from the old fleet that are still roadworthy.
In Chittoor district, all the old ‘104’ vehicles have been removed as scrap and 64 new ambulances introduced. Similarly, six of the 43 108 ambulances were discarded as scrap, provided replacement and 37 additional vehicles inducted into the fleet, taking the fleet strength to 77. All the remote locations in the vast district having 66 mandals will be sufficiently represented and easily covered with the induction. The two neonatal care ambulances will be stationed in Chittoor and Madanapalle towns, as Tirupati is perceived to have been endowed with adequate medical infrastructure.
The fleet will certainly help the Medical and Health Department in the current COVID-19 situation, as the officials are already in a fix to find suitable infrastructure, be it beds or transport.