BHUBANESWAR: People in the state can soon book an ambulance through the ride-hailing mobile app ‘Odisha Yatri’. The Odisha government is planning to integrate the ambulance services with its homegrown cab aggregator app.
The Health and Family Welfare (H&FW) department, in coordination with the State Transport Authority (STA) and Capital Region Urban Transport (CRUT), is working on modalities to onboard ambulances on the ONDC-based platform to improve access and last-mile healthcare delivery. Odisha Yatri is a direct-to-driver app implemented by the state government. There is no commission or middle-men and the users’ pay goes 100 per cent to the owner of the vehicle.
Officials said the Health department will coordinate with CRUT, the licensed aggregator of the app, to ensure seamless tech-enabled access to ambulances. “Once implemented, patients will be able to locate, book, and track ambulances directly through the mobile application, a move aimed at enhancing the efficiency and transparency of emergency transport across the state,” said a health official.
The initiative comes close on the heels of the government’s decision to regulate private ambulance operations. As decided, a campaign-mode registration drive has been launched to bring all private ambulances under a single, standardised platform.
At a recent high-level committee chaired by principal secretary of Commerce and Transport department Usha Padhee, it was decided that the technical committee of the STA in coordination with the Health department will soon finalise ambulance hire charges.
“The Transport and Health departments will jointly conduct awareness-cum-surveillance camps around AIIMS-Bhubaneswar, SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack, and Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar to raise public awareness and ensure enforcement. Help desks will also be set up near major hospitals to facilitate ambulance bookings in a prepaid format with predefined and standardised rates,” the official added.
In order to ensure compliance with safety and quality norms, regional transport officers (RTOs) have been instructed to examine no objection certificates (NOC) issued by Health officials and MVIs to verify adherence to AIS standards before granting or renewing registrations of ambulances.
All registered ambulances will also be mandatorily integrated with the vehicle location tracking system (VLTS) to enable GPS-based monitoring and faster emergency response. The tracking devices will be compatible with the central application deployed by the authority, with technical inputs being sourced from STA to ensure interoperability.
Ambulance operators who comply with the new regulatory framework will be incentivised through exemptions in statutory taxes and fees. The STA has been asked to issue detailed guidelines.