Within days of the 13/7 bomb blasts in Mumbai earlier this year,the state revived its ambitious project of Emergency Medical Service (EMS) and published a fresh tender. Three months and three extensions since the tender document was issued in early August,it is struggling to get even the required three bidders to take the project forward. The final extension ends on Friday. The government invited bids to launch Maharashtra Emergency Medical Services (MEMS) with a fleet of 937 Life Support Ambulances on turnkey basis. The tender has been invited to develop and operate Emergency Response Service/ Ambulance Service for providing reliable,trustworthy and quality emergency response ambulance service. Of the 937 ambulances,the government intends to purchase 235 Advanced Life Support ambulances and 702 basic life support ambulances. The process to procure the ambulances will be done in three phases,374 ambulances in first phase,373 in the second and 190 ambulances in the third place. The tender states that the bidder has to have experience of operating at least 100 ambulances (10 per cent of the total) to qualify for the bids,which many said was proving to be a stumbling block. AIIMS is the consultant for the tender. The scheme first floated under the National Rural Health Mission in 2006 for rural parts of the country has been through several ups and downs. The lack of a EMS was particularly exposed during the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai. The program is already in operation through a PPP model in Gujarat,Rajasthan,Kerala,Karnataka,Andhra Pradesh,Meghalaya,Assam,Tamil Nadu,Goa,Uttarakhand,Punjab,Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Officials said time was lost over the last five years and money from the Centre has been lying with the government. One tender awarded in 2007 was scrapped and the approval for inclusion of urban areas into the scheme was only granted this year. As per the proposal,the Central government funds would be used providing services in rural areas and Maharashtra government would bear the cost expenses in urban areas.
