CHENNAI: The State government will soon launch a mobile user app to deploy 108 ambulances more efficiently and quickly.
The app could reduce the time spent on getting the preliminaries completed. At present it takes three minutes between the time of call and the despatch of the ambulance.
The app, developed by the students of the Indian Institute of Technology - Madras during a hackathon over six months ago, is designed to track the latitude and longitude of the caller. The event was part of the National Health Mission’s project aimed at achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of reducing 50% of deaths caused by road traffic accidents, said a senior health official.
“Deaths due to RTAs are the fourth biggest burden in Tamil Nadu. When despatching ambulances there are three important decisions to be made: where is the accident, where is the ambulance, how many ambulances are necessary and the nature of injury,” the official said.
“We have fitted GPS on the ambulances vehicles and the call centre gets pop ups of the nearest ambulances. But we have to depend on the caller to provide information about the accident site. When the caller is on a highway he would tell us he had crossed toll plaza 10 km ago and that is no help as we need more information. Often the caller is not in a position to provide that crucial detail,” the official explained.
“The app helps to precisely locate the caller. We then ask the caller if he is in sight of the accident. If he confirms then the call centre person will put him on a conference call with the ambulance driver. The caller is then asked to provide further information about the number and type of vehicles involved. This would help us to decide how many ambulances should be despatched,” said an official.
EMRI 108 data analysed
Much homework has gone into improving the way emergencies are handled, though. Following an analysis of the existing data in EMRI 108, the officials mapped the State and found that 8% of the roads contribute to 71% of RTA deaths. They also found that the lowest number of accidents occurred between midnight and 4 a.m. and the highest was between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. The peak period was 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The next peak was 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Further analysis on the most accident-prone locations was needed. For this the State was divided into a 2 km x 2 km grid and it became easy to map the vulnerable locations. “The top 200 grids accounted for as many as 6,000 deaths,” said the official.
The next step was to ensure spacio-temporal allocation of ambulances. The officials are now trying to change the standard operating procedure of stationing and use of ambulances.
“We take up inter-facility transfer as and when we receive a call. Now we will try to conduct the transfer during the lean accident period, ensuring that the patient is stabilised in the hospital till then. This would allow us to despatch a vehicle when it is most needed,” the official added.
EOM
For infobox:
State tops the list in road accidents. It contributes 13.8% share in the country.
Ranks 2nd in the number of deaths with 10% share (15,642 deaths)
It tops in number of persons injured in road accidents with a percentage share of 15.9%
Persons with minor injuries in road accidents were the highest in Tamil Nadu (70,321)
Source: Road Accidents In India – 2015, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Transport Research Wing
“Aim of State government is to reduce road traffic accidents by 50% in three years. 95-98% deaths occur due to RTAs. It is the 4th biggest cause of death in State” – health official
EOM
