VIJAYAWADA: Like any other day, a 108 ambulance service operator received an anxious call, pleading for an ambulance to be sent. All that the caller, whose father had a cardiac arrest, could bring herself to say was, “Please, please, please help me. I need an ambulance to be sent immediately to Vijaya Durga Colony.” The call operator asked the caller to calm down and sought a few basic details such as her name and location. The caller is almost screaming now and, in a desperate tone, said: “Send the ambulance immediately. It’s Vijaya Durga Colony, Kadapa city.” The call operator assured her that the ambulance had been sent and connected a conference call with the ambulance driver.
The driver said they were on their way and took directions to reach the spot before disconnecting the call. The ambulance reached the patient’s residence within 15 minutes and shifted him to Kadapa RIMS. The medical attendant checked the patient’s health status and helped him regain consciousness. Fortunately, the patient survived in this case.
The pertinent question is what if the ambulance took more time to reach the patient? Official data shows that in 2018 alone, 946 patients died of cardiac arrest and other heart-related ailments even before 108 ambulance arrived. Till May 31 this year, a total of 453 people lost their lives before the arrival of the lifeline. The average response time for the 108 ambulance to reach the patients was over 16 minutes in most cases.
According to cardiologists, response within five minutes of a patient suffering cardiac arrest could enhance his/her chances of survival by as much as 40 per cent. The prime job of the call operator is to take down the basic information and rush the ambulance. Their calls hardly last three minutes and most of the callers are panic-stricken relatives of patients, especially in cases related to cardiac arrest. But, if call operators are trained to direct the callers to provide Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) to the patients, a practice widely followed in the United States and United Kingdom, many lives could be saved before the ambulance reaches them.
Speaking to TNIE, 108 service State head K Suresh said, “We have around 2,000 employees on the field such as drivers and medical attendants who are trained to administer basic life support including CPR on cardiac patients. We have around 110 call operators who work in shifts 24/7. However, we don’t recommend our representatives to give medical instructions to the callers because it may turn adverse if performed wrongly.” “We have two types of ambulances: basic life support ambulance and advanced life support ambulance. The latter is equipped with defibrillator that comes to the rescue of heart patients. We always send advanced life support ambulances in cardiac-related cases,” he added.
Of the 439 108 ambulances across the State, 89 are equipped with advanced life support system.
However, while the ratio of advanced to basic life support ambulances should be 25:75, the present ratio is skewed. This could increase the response time and slim the chances of survival of the patients, which is where telephonic CPR can be a game changer. Ramesh Hospitals chief interventional cardiologist Pothineni Ramesh said, “Due to the heavy traffic, it is difficult to reduce the response time of the ambulances to five minutes. Setting up local first-aid centres and telephonic instructions to the callers can save lives.”