Shimla---Himachal Pradesh has carved a niche in a number of sectors and Health is one of them. The birthday of former Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee witnessed the launching of an unique service to the patients of this hilly State i.e. Atal Swasthya Sewa. The scheme envisages round the clock free ambulance service as a token of gratitude towards Shri Vajpayee.
The Emergency Response Centre will be established at Dharampur in district Solan. Till then, this Centre has been made operational at Rabaun in Solan-Kumarhatti by pass. A patient can contact Emergency Response Centre by dialling toll free number 108. The Centre has a trained staff including doctors and police personnel who under take everything right from sending ambulance, providing emergency treatment on the way and admitting the patient at the nearest hospital. Till date, emergency Response Centre has received around 12,571 calls on the toll free number 108. Out of which, 543 were emergency calls and 1221 turned out be enquiry calls. 72 percent pregnant women too availed this facility. Majority calls were received from Shimla and Sirmaur districts followed by Hamirpur and Bilaspur districts.
Under the scheme, free ambulance service within an ambit of 30 Kms to the persons suffering from critical ailments and pregnant women to get timely treatment at a nearby hospital is being provided. The State Government has inked an agreement with GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI) to start this service in Public-Private Partnership. In the first phase of Atal Swasthya Sewa, 50 ambulances have been made available in seven districts of Shimla, Kangra, Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Solan and Sirmour. By March, 2011, Atal Swasthya Sewa will be extended in the remaining districts.
All the ambulances are equipped with GPS (Global Positioning System). The centre tracks all the ambulances and sends the vehicle stationed at the nearest point to the patient’s home. It takes an ambulance 25 minutes to reach a person in urban areas and 35 minutes in the rural areas. The emergencies include delivery cases, snakebite, accidents, cardiac and respiratory distress and other ailments, which require immediate medical care. The ambulances have on board life saving equipment like automatic internal defibrillators, pulse oxymeter, oxygen supply, nebulisers, suction machine, glucometer, electronic blood pressure measuring apparatus, five types of stretchers and splints, extraction kit, medicines and IV fluids. Out of the total 108 ambulances, 25 have an additional advanced life support equipment like multi-para monitor. The driver called pilot, is trained to handle emergencies for which he is assisted by a trained paramedical. The ambulances are equipped to handle 42 types of emergencies.
Earlier, in Himachal, there was an ambulance for a population of about 70,000, which would further come down to about 50,000 after the completion of second phase, as compared to over one lakh in other states of the country. Himachal Pradesh is second State in North India after Uttrakhand to start this service. Timely medical aid to people will help in cutting back morbidity due to snake bites, poisoning, maternal and infant mortality etc.
The estimated operational expenditure on this service is Rs. 14.39 crore per year and the capital expenditure is Rs. 18 crore. Around 609 personnel will be deployed to provide this service which includes 300 pilots (drivers), 300 Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT), 4 doctors, 13 communication officers. Police personnel have also been deployed to coordinate medico-legal cases.
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