Members of the Tulunada Rakshana Vedike have urged the government to provide basic facilities to ambulance drivers and to repair the underground drainage pipeline at the Wenlock Government Hospital.
Forum founder-president Yogish Shetty Jeppu, who addressed the protesting Vedike members near the hospital, said that the ambulance drivers of the hospital have been toiling day and night, to take critically ill patients to the hospital. “They are, however, deprived of basic facilities. The hospital premises are totally unhygienic. The area at the railway station road, where the ambulances are parked, is being filled with waste by the public. People also urinate in the area. The sewer pipeline from the hospital has been broken and the sewage is flowing in open drain. This has not only caused inconvenience to the ambulance drivers but also been resulting in spread of diseases,” he complained.
Speaking further, he said that crores of rupees are paid by the Mangalore City Corporation to Antony Waste company for the segregation and processing of waste, but, it has been of no use.
Forum general secretary Prashant Bhat Kadaba said that there is no toilet and cloak room facilities for the ambulance drivers, who wait in queue for their turn, outside the hospital.
The protesters urged the district administration to take measures to provide basic facilities to the ambulance drivers and also should repair the drainage pipe. If no necessary steps are taken by those concerned, the Vedike will stage serious protests in the days to come, the activists warned.
Organising secretary Anand Amin Adyar, Siraj Adkare, Harish Shetty Shaktinagar, Radhika, Rakshith and Rashid were present among others.
Published 18 July 2017, 18:22 IST