Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Friday flagged off 84 additional ambulances under 108 fleet to extend the coverage of emergency ambulance service.
Naveen flagged off the new ambulances through videoconferencing.
“The new fleet of ambulances will help improve our preparedness to take more calls. These ambulances have been envisioned to serve the needy and tribal people in different interior pockets of the state,” Health Minister Naba Kishore Das said.
“These ambulances are funded by the state. Soon, we’ll add more ambulances to 108 ambulance service that would exclusively made available to the medical colleges. These ambulances are aimed at reducing the response time to reach out to the people in distress,” Additional Chief Secretary to Health department Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra said.
Launched March 5, 2013 and managed by Ziqitza Healthcare Limited, the 108 Emergency Medical Ambulance Service presently operates with a fleet of 518 vehicles covering all 30 districts of the state. The fleet has 456 Basic Life Support (BLS), 56 Advanced Life Support (ALS) and six boat ambulances.
According to sources, the state government has made a budgetary provision of Rs 104 crore towards the operational and capital expenditure of the newly-launched ambulances over a period of five years. The new fleet of ambulances will be stationed in 27 districts.
Apart from 108 Emergency Ambulance Service, the state has in position a fleet of 500 ambulances under Janani Express for transportation of pregnant women and sick infants. Official sources said, over 60 lakh people have so far been benefited from the 108 and Janani Express ambulance services in the state.