Ambulance that carried Yerran had no oxygen, admits Minister

Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr DL Ravindra Minister on Saturday admitted that the ambulance that carried TDP senior leader K Yerran Naidu, after he met with a tragic accident, had no oxygen cylinder.

Addressing a press conference at his chambers in the State Secretariat, Ravindra Reddy said that although 108 and 104 Emergency Services were not under his ministry, he enquired with the officials about the incident. He said he was pained to know that the ambulance did not even had an oxygen cylinder. He said that the incident has exposes the fact that emergency services in the State lack basic facilities.

Ravindra Reddy said that the State Government did not take any measures to set up 14 Trauma Care Centres proposed on different national highways across the State. He also accused Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar of ignoring his appeals to improve the basic medical facilities in the rural areas.

The minister's revelation is bound to trigger a major controversy. Already there were allegations that the 108 Ambulance did not reach the spot on time after Yerran Naidu and four others were injured after their car hit an oil tanker in Srikakulam district in the early hours of Friday. Therefore, he was taken to the KIMS hospital by an ambulance of the National Highway Service.