CHENNAI: Last year, over 3,000 deliveries were conducted by crew of the 108 ambulance while transporting pregnant women to nearby hospitals, according to the data of GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI), which operates the 108 service in the State.
According to the data, the deliveries on-board 108 ambulance in 2016-2017 were 4,550. In 2017-2018 - 4,410, in 2018-2019 - 3,117 and in 2019-2020, from April to August - 1,028 deliveries were attended by the Emergency Medicine Technicians. But these deliveries constitute only 0.1%, say officials.
Over 99.9% of deliveries in hospitals: Health director
Speaking to Express, Dr K Kolandaswamy, Director of Public Health, said, “99.9% deliveries are taking place in hospitals. Among them, two-thirds of deliveries in government hospitals, and the remaining in the private hospitals. Only less than 0.1% of deliveries are taking place outside the institutions like on-board 108 ambulance and other places. Tamil Nadu has the highest number of Institutional deliveries in the country.”
Speaking on her experience of conducting deliveries in the ambulance, M Meena, Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) of 108 Ambulance, who attended to over 10 such deliveries in the last five years of her service, said, “The deliveries occur during the transit due to various medical reasons, one among them being rupture of amniotic sac in mothers. We have been trained to handle all kind of emergencies during our inception into the service.”
Meena’s recent case was Ramya, a 24-year-old woman from Kancheepuram district. Ramya gave birth to a girl baby weighing around 2.5 kg during the transit to Primary Health Centre at Iyyampettai on Sunday. After the delivery, the mother and baby were safely shifted to the Primary Health Centre.
Meanwhile, Head of Emergency Medicine Training Centre, 108 service, Dr C Sivagurunathan said,“Our Emergency Medical Technicians are given 45 days of training using a mannequin before being absorbed into the service. After training, they are posted to government hospitals to assist the hospital staff in the deliveries there. They are trained in conducting deliveries also.” Another official said, “Though on-board deliveries are not recommended, so far, we haven’t faced any issue. All deliveries were conducted smoothly by the EMTs. People delaying to call ambulance is one of the reasons. Also, in some cases, long distance transport is a problem.”
1,028
Number of deliveries were attended by the Emergency Medicine Technicians between April and August this year
‘Gives 45 days training’
Chennai: Head of Emergency Medicine Training Centre, Dr C Sivagurunathan said, “Our Emergency Medical Technicians are given 45 days training using a mannequin. After which they are posted to government hospitals to assist staffs