CHENDUR: What should have been a 40-minute long journey ended up being an 80-minute long drive from Chendur to Nalgonda government hospital and it even ended in the death of a 30-year-old man whose condition turned critical after he consumed pesticide on Saturday. All due to the ill-equipped 108 ambulance. The victim, I Narasimhulu, a labourer from Chendur had consumed pesticide on Saturday afternoon. Around 4 p.m, Narasimhulu's family members called 108 ambulance for taking him to Nalgonda government hospital. The Aarogyasri ambulance, shifting the patient, lacked the horn and even the gear box was in a bad condition.Moreover, there was no equipment in the van to hang the saline bottle. Instead, an attendant was holding it.On their way to the hospital when they came across a funeral procession, people on the road were not aware of Narasimhulu's critical condition because the driver could not blow horn. However, Narasimhulu's brother-in-law, G Kondal, alerted people of the emergency case. The 25-kilometre journey which would take 40 minutes to reach the hospital took 90 minutes. ACH Pulla Rao, a doctor at the hospital said, Narsimhulu's life would have been saved if he was brought to the hospital an hour early. "Since his entire body got poisoned, he died." When Express approached the Divisional Operating Executive of EMRI service in the district, he said, the regular vehicle which makes trips to the hospital was under repair and therefore, was replaced by another one.
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