The hi-tech ambulance service (Dial 108) launched by the Health Department in the district on Wednesday, as a pilot project under the Kerala Emergency Medical Services Project (KEMP), seems to have made quite an impact.
Within the first 15 hours of the ambulances being pressed into service, the service was utilised to provide emergency medical relief to 14 persons and to reach them to hospital.
The nature of the emergencies included three road accidents, fracture incidents, heart attack and an assault incident from locations across the district, from Kowdiar to Varkala.
According to the tracking report produced by KEMP, all the ambulances were on the spot in most cases within seven minutes. In the case of three emergency calls from the outskirts of the city, the maximum time taken for the service to reach the spot was 25 minutes.
This is the first time that the State is experiencing the facility of a modern emergency medical service, which can reach the spot within the shortest time possible and which is capable of providing first aid and emergency life support en route to the hospital.
KEMP, which has put 25 ambulances with Advanced Life Support System on the road, runs under an advanced Emergency Response Centre having single seamless solution including Computer Telephony Integration, Voice Logger System, Geographic Information System maps, Global Positioning System, Automatic Vehicle Location and Tracking and Mobile Communication Technology.
The public can avail of the service round-the-clock through a toll free number 108. It will be available for any kind of health emergencies including accidents. However, as these are ambulances fitted with hi-tech life support systems, the service cannot be called for shifting bodies or for moving patients from hospitals to their residences, the convener of KEMP said in a press release here on Thursday.
The service is rendered free of cost to the public for admission to Government Hospitals.
