Two out of 10 TRHA ambulances working

Two out of ten ambulances bought by the Tobago Regional Health Authority (TRHA) in the last two years are “functional” and providing service to Tobagonians.

So revealed Health Secretary Dr Agatha Carrington who, in responding to questions at the post Executive Council media briefing last Wednesday at the Administrative Complex in Calder Hall, said she expected that other ambulances would be “fixed” shortly.

“I would admit, having purchased ten ambulances over the last two years, the Tobago Regional Health Authority (TRHA) has not embarked on an appropriate preventative maintenance system and therefore of the ten, we have two functional.

“I intend as Secretary to ensure that this does not reoccur, so they have procured all the spare parts that were required and we

expect that within short order, that all the ambulances will be back up and running,” she said.

Responding to concerns articulated by residents in Charlottesville at a TRHA health consultation last Tuesday night on poor service as regards ambulances, Carrington said “we see those areas as being critical.”

“… there is a commitment by the TRHA to ensure that the preventative maintenance arrangement for the ambulances is allocated to the Charlottesville district (so) we do not have the reoccurrence of a situation that has happened over the last two weeks - the ambulance is out of service,” she said.

“We cannot make excuses to the population, we have to ensure that it is fixed,” she declared, adding “we expect to have some of the other ambulances brought on board because we have various issues, we have brakes to be fixed.”

Carrington said she expected some improvement in terms of the services “within the next few days because some of the repairs are indeed minor.”

“ I’ve been told they are replacing tires and brakes and all of that. I expect that they will be up in about a day or so,” she said.