Bhubaneswar: As many as 26 ambulances were flagged off by Odisha Health & Family Welfare Minister Pratap Jena here Thursday in the second phase of 108 ambulance services that was earlier launched by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Out of 26 ambulances, Sambalpur, Bolangir, Kandhamal will get five each, Boudh district four, Nayagarh three followed by one ambulance each for Sundargarh, Gajapati, Deogarh and Sonepur districts.
Jena said, “By the commencement of these 108 ambulance services, we are hopeful that better ambulance facilities can be provided to the people.
Chief Minister Patnaik had earlier dedicated 92 additional ambulances to the people of the state December 23 last year and on the same day had flagged off 24 ambulances in the first phase.
The remaining 42 vehicles of the fleet will be rolled out in the last phase across the state, the minister said.
The 108 Emergency Medical Ambulance Service was launched in the state March 2013 and is presently operated with a fleet of 444 vehicles covering all 30 districts. It is providing emergency medical services free of cost to the people of the state. The fleet comprises 388 ‘Basic Life Support’ (BLS) and 56 ‘Advanced Life Support’ (ALS) ambulances.
In addition to the 108 Ambulance Service, the State has a fleet of 500 ambulances under ‘102 Ambulance’ Service for transportation of pregnant mothers and sick infants.
Over 35 lakh people from the state have so far been benefited from the ambulance service. This intervention has been instrumental in significant reductions of both the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) in the State, claimed the press note issued by the State Health & Family Welfare Department.
