The Tamil Nadu unit of Emergency Management and Research Institute has completed mapping of hospitals in the State, which will help them take patients to the right hospital at the earliest in hours of emergencies.
The documentation of data collected from the experience in operating as many as 385 ambulances in the State is now being replicated in nine other States in the country, the EMRI Tamil Nadu Chief Operating Officer Srivatsan Raghavan told The Hindu .
The data on facilities available at various hospitals, both Government and private, have been collected from the ground level staff over a period had been computerised.
“A copy of the chart is available with the ground staff too. Now, they know where to take the patients for a fracture, and where for a head injury,” Mr. Raghavan said.
This exercise will save time and avoid making circuitous travel.
“Taking the victims to the right kind of facility will solve half the risk,” he said.
The data has details including availability of doctors at any given time at all the hospitals.
The 108 free ambulance services in the State has been operating using the facility since February.
“The initial feedback is good. However, we will be able to get a full picture only after two more months. This will be copied by the 2,700 ambulances operated in the country,” he said.
GIS/GPS
The EMRI has also been using geographical information system and global positioning system on a pilot basis for better management of the fleet.
On receiving SOS, the call centre personnel at Chennai had to make phone calls to the ground staff to locate the ambulance available nearest to the victim. Sometimes, they make two to three calls for this if the ambulances are engaged.
“We will save over 30 seconds on this aspect alone as the GIS/GPS will help them locate the nearest ambulance available,” Mr. Raghavan said.
The objective of the EMRI is to move the ambulance within 180 seconds on receiving an emergency call.
“Wiser to wait”
Mr. Raghavan said that the average time taken for an ambulance to rush to the accident spot from the base station is 16 minutes in urban areas, 21 minutes in rural areas and up to 40 minutes for unserved remote areas.
He advised people to wait for an ambulance to shift patients to hospitals, rather than taking them in unsafe vehicles like autorickshaws.
“It is wiser to wait for 20 minutes for an ambulance. For, a patient will start getting medical treatment right at the moment of getting into our ambulance that has many medical facilities.
Even for complicated cases, the paramedics will be able to stabilise the patient's health condition by getting advice from doctors available at the call centre over phone,” he said.
