Bhubaneswar: Health & FW, Law, Information & Public Relations minister Pratap Jena flagged off 42 108 ambulances Wednesday under the Emergency Medical Ambulance Service taking the number to 512.
The ambulances are part of the 92 that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had dedicated to the people of the state December 23, 2017. He had flagged off 24 of these on that day while 26 were inducted in the fleet July 12 this year by the Health minister.
The 108 Emergency Medical Ambulance Service was launched March 5, 2013 and presently has a fleet of 470 vehicles covering all the 30 districts, providing emergency medical service, free of cost to the people. Of the 470, 414 are Basic Life Support (BLS) and 56 Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulances.
In addition to the 108 Ambulance Service, the state has in position a fleet of 500 ambulances under 102 Ambulance Service for transportation of pregnant mothers and sick infants.
Till date, over 38 lakh people have benefited from the ambulance service. The intervention has ensured significant reduction in both Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) in the state.
Speaking to the media, Jena said that in order to further improve the performance of Emergency Ambulance Service, particularly in tribal-majority districts, and to meet the increasing demand for it, the state government through exclusive state budget funding, had made a provision for the additional 92 ambulances under the 108 fleet.
The government has also provided for upgradation of 28 Basic Life Support ambulances to Advanced Life Support, out of the state fund, to strengthen the existing ambulance fleet. The government has made a budget provision of Rs 90 crore (over a period of five years) for these additional ambulances, Jena said.
Among others, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Health & FW, Dr Pramod Kumar Meherda , MD, NHM, Salini Pandit , MD, OSMC, Archana Patnaik, and other departmental officers and officers of 108 Ambulance Service provider were present during the flagging-off ceremony.
