BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to reduce ambulance response time to 10 minutes and facilitate on-time transportation of patients from remote corners of Odisha, the state government has planned to procure around 1,200 ambulances with advanced support systems in phases in the next four years.
As per the plan, the Health and Family Welfare department will add more than 300 ambulances every year and replace the old vehicles with the advanced ones. Like the 108 ambulance service now operational in the state, the new ambulances will be operated free of cost under emergency medical ambulance service (EMAS-108).
Recently, the department had added 349 ambulances to the 108 fleet taking the total strength to 1,366. As per the WHO standards, there should be at least one ambulance per one lakh population in the plains, and one for every 70,000 population in hilly terrain or tribal areas where population is scattered. An ambulance should reach any place within 15 minutes after the distress call and transport the patient to a health facility within 20 minutes thereafter.
A senior official of the Health department said plan is to make provision of one ambulance for every 50,000 people to fulfil demand for transporting patients. The state government has already planned to spend `1,500 crore up to 2027-28 to strengthen the network with the assistance of National Health Mission (NHM). The government will spend Rs 517 crore for ambulance procurement and operational expenses in 2024-25, Rs 465 crore in 2025-26, Rs 400 crore in 2026-27 and Rs 524 crore in 2027-28.
The ambulance fleet will consist of both basic life support and advanced life support. In order to minimise morbidity and mortality and provide emergency care, the ambulances with global positioning system technology will be positioned in all 30 districts. Apart from the 108 fleet and six boat ambulances, the state has over 5,000 private ambulances.