COIMBATORE : In the past ten years, a total of 4,68,485 lives across the State have been saved through 108 ambulance services, said Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami in Coimbatore on Saturday.
“A total of 926 free ambulances were operated in the State round the clock to provide free medical emergency services to cater to the needs of 7.21 crore people.
Each ambulance has benefited up to 3.9 persons on an average everyday,” he stated.
Palaniswami also pointed out that the late chief minister J Jayalalithaa had introduced a vehicle patrolling system on national and State highways to rescue people who had met with road accidents. Groups of policemen on rounds were responsible for admitting these victims to hospitals. Currently, 272 vehicles were being operated in the State; they have rescued as many as 15,757 people so far, he said at the launch of ‘Uyir’ – a forum at CODISSIA – in the city on Saturday.
“Due to the various steps taken by the government, death rate in road accidents has dropped to 4.89 per cent this year from the 8.27 per cent earlier. Similarly, death of patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) has also dropped to 2.72 per cent from 5.51 per cent.
The government has been implementing various schemes worth `215.35 crore to provide treatment to accident victims. People should cooperate with the government to reduce the road accidents,” he said.