T.N.’s emergency response better than national average: Minister

Vijaya Baskar says mobile app for 108 ambulance service is in the final stage

Unsung hero: Health Minister C. Vijaya Baskar felicitating a pilot of the 108 ambulance on the occasion of ‘Pilots’ Day’ in Chennai on Friday.

The response time of 108 ambulances in Tamil Nadu in dealing with emergencies is better than the national average, said State Health Minister C. Vijaya Baskar on Friday.

The Minister was speaking at the ‘Pilot’s Day’ celebrations held at the 108 ambulance building on the DMS campus. The State’s average response time is 15 minutes and 30 seconds, while the national average is 18 minutes, he said, according to a press release.

In cities, the average response time is 11 minutes and the government intends to soon make this 10 minutes, he added. Mr. Vijaya Baskar said the State would strive for ‘platinum hour’.

The 108 ambulance system started out with 15 ambulances and has now expanded to 855. There are also 41 two-wheeler emergency responders. Over one lakh people use the ambulances every month. The mobile app too, is in the final stage of preparations, and will allow ambulances to be directly linked to the patient’s address, he said.

A total of 46 pilots, or ambulance drivers from across the State were honoured on the occasion. The pilots are trained in first aid and in cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, defensive driving and in the safety of self, patients and road users, said B. Prabhudoss, head, marketing and communications, GVK EMRI, which operates the ambulance system.

Live operative workshop

Earlier in the day, the Minister inaugurated a live operative workshop on brachial plexus injury at the Government Stanley Hospital. The workshop was conducted by the Institute for Research and Rehabilitation of Hand and the Department of Plastic Surgery at the hospital.

Mr. Vijaya Baskar said the government now had plastic surgeons in almost all its medical colleges, and that 7,500 plastic surgeries were done every year in the State. The Institute for Research and Rehabilitation of Hand was a unique initiative that saw 100 patients every year. He said the Department of Plastic Surgery at the hospital was started in 1971, and in more than four decades since, had grown from a 20-bed department to 120.

Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan and other senior health officials also participated.