Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court on Friday December 2 directed the State Government to share emergency traffic control room numbers with government and private hospitals and get their response regarding ambulance drivers working under their institutions.
The court ruled that when route details are provided through those dedicated numbers, it will ease traffic movement, and if hospitals comply with the government’s request, they will give ambulance drivers’ contact information so that fake calls can be verified.
A division bench consisting of Chief Justice Prasanna B. Varale and Justice Ashok S. Kinagi issued the order after hearing a PIL filed by the Bharat Punarutthana Trust. The government told the court that only 3,368 are GPS-equipped, out of a total of 12,107 government and private ambulances in the State.
The government informed the court that while the tender for the state’s advance ambulance service was opened on November 28, no bids were received. As a result, the government will refloat the tender within the next 15 days with its prior approval.
