MoH procuring 490 Type B ambulances
KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Health (MoH) is procuring 490 Type B ambulances and related equipment via open tender under the provisions of the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP), the Dewan Negara was told yesterday.
Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali said this was to replace ambulances which were damaged or disposed of.
“This procurement is in the process of evaluating tenders and they (ambulances) are expected to be delivered to the users in stages from the middle of 2022,” he said during the question-and-answer session.
He was replying to a question from Senator Dr Ahmad Azam Hamzah who wanted to know whether the plan to buy 300 ambulances for use during the Covid-19 pandemic was still on.
Dr Noor Azmi explained that there were three types of ambulances, namely Type A, Type B, and four-wheel drive, to avoid any confusion in future.
“Previously, news went viral saying we (MoH) utilised ambulances with negative pressure and what not, actually, that is not what we are doing now. This procurement is for Type B... there are three types of ambulances, Type A, Type B and four-wheel (drive).
“Type A is the most sophisticated – it has a ventilator, patients needing breathing aid can use them and most are sent to schools.
“The second one is Type B, which we ordered, which are without ventilators, or complete knockdown class, meaning we take this van and modify it to become an ambulance,” he said.
He said the procurement of the 490 ambulances came under phase one and MoH would implement phase two, namely adding another 100 units, to areas nationwide at a cost of about RM400,000.
Dr Noor Azmi said this in reply to a supplementary question from Ahmad Azam who wanted to know the expected annual maintenance cost for the ambulances.