Smart ambulance system still eludes smart city-in-waiting

Ritika Jha Palial

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 3

A city that aspires to be the nation’s first smart city has failed to achieve its primary target of a smart ambulance system even two years after missing its first deadline in 2013.

The UT Health Department, that boasts of a “state-of-the-art” healthcare response system, has not been able to match even its neighboring states of Punjab and Haryana in improving the response time of ambulances and providing advanced life support (ALS) on the wheels.

On the lines of the “dial 108” GPS-controlled ambulance model of Punjab and Haryana, the UT Health Department had proposed to start a centralised system of ambulances in 2012.

In 2013, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had pulled up officials of the department for not improving the ambulance services, in response to a PIL filed by an NGO.

The Health Department had given an affidavit a month later that it would adopt the best models from other parts of the country. However, the procurement is still awaited. “We will open the bid on May 5 for procurement. Depending upon the response from bidders, the ambulances will be procured at the earliest,” said the UT Director (Health Services), Dr VK Gagneja.

There are a total of 25 basic life support ambulances and two police trauma ambulances in the city. A total of 10 ambulances remain stationed at the GMSH, Sector 16, five at the GMCH, Sector 32, and the others at the PGI.

In addition, one ALS ambulance is kept reserved for VVIPs and there are two hi-tech ambulances owned by the PGI and one recently donated to the GMCH by a private vehicle manufacturer. However, these ambulances do not move beyond their respective hospital campuses.

How the GPS works

The ambulances are centrally controlled and as soon as a call is received at the control room, the ambulance located closest to the caller’s location is sent instructions. The control room also sends a route map of the caller’s location to the ambulance driver to save time. The service is active in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana under the National Health Mission.

Response time

The response time of the 108 ambulance in Punjab and Haryana is currently 15 to 17 minutes.

n At present, there are 25 basic life support ambulances at public service.

n The emergency helpline number of the GMCH, Sector 32, is 1201 (ambulance) while that of the GMSH, Sector 16, is 102. The PGI does not provide the pick-up ambulance facility.

n At least 25 calls are received at the 102 ambulance line of the GMSH and half the number at the helpline of the GMCH every day. Of these, around five are critical cases.

n Ambulances do not have pre-defined response time. It varies from 30 minutes to one hour.