Minister flags off ambulances for Covid duty

Coimbatore: Municipal administration minister S P Velumani on Wednesday inaugurated 12 ambulances to cater to the Covid-19 patients in the Coimbatore region.
While nine of the new vehicles have basic life support, the rest are four-wheel drives to be used in the Nilgiris, Valparai and Seeliyur Hills. The vehicles reduce exposure to the staff and non-Covid-19 patients. The 108-ambulance service has 15 vehicles exclusively for the patients.
The service has 41 ambulances in total. The new ambulances will be able to transport 75 to 100 Covid-19 patients to the care centres at Codissia, Coimbatore Medical College Hospital and ESI hospital a day.
“We get at least two calls a day about Covid-19 patients who are critical,” said an official attached to the service.
Though the usual response time of the ambulances in the district is eight minutes, since they transport up to six Covid patients at a time, it takes up to five hours.