Hyderabad, February 05: As the noose of the financial crunch tightens, even prestigious and life-saving programmes like Aarogyasri seems to be taking a beating. The State Government on Thursday asked the Aarogyasri Trust to implement cost-cutting measures immediately in view of increasing expenditure. Chief Minister K Rosaiah himself suggested some cost-cutting measures to the Aarogyasri officials at a review meeting held here today.
As part of these measures, the Government is likely to reduce number of trips per ambulance, unnecessary operational costs including termination of a few employees and also software expenses. Aarogyasri Minister P Satyanarayana himself admitted that the number of trips by ambulances under `108 Services’ will be reduced from the current nine trips to six trips. The officials resorted to this act to save fuel expenses instead of adopting fuel-saving methods on the lines of Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) which successfully reduced wastage of fuel. They were also asked to avoid frequent vehicle breakdowns and under utilisation of vehicles.
Further, efforts are being made to establish a special monitoring cell to bring all emergency services like EMRI, HMRI, 108 and 104 services under one roof. Recently, the Government reportedly asked an IT major company to develop a single software for easy operation and monitoring of all these programmes under one roof and reduce requirement for huge manpower for operation of the call centre.
The officials have asked HMRI to involve a suitable private partner to provide better services and sustainability.
–Agencies