Another 42 ambulances were added to the fleet of 108 Emergency Medical Ambulance Service in the State on Wednesday. Health and Family Welfare Minister Pratap Jena flagged off the new ambulances.
The 108 Ambulance service, which was launched on March 5, 2013, is presently operated with a fleet of 470 vehicles covering all 30 districts providing emergency medical service free of cost. The fleet has 414 ‘Basic Life Support’ (BLS) and 56 ‘Advanced Life Support’ (ALS) ambulances.
In addition to the 108 service, the State has in position a fleet of 500 ambulances under the 102 Ambulance service for transportation of pregnant mothers and sick infants.
Till date, over 38 lakh people have benefitted from the ambulance services. This intervention has been instrumental in significant reductions in both the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) in the State.
Speaking to media, Minister Jena said that in order to further improve the performance of the Emergency Ambulance Service, particularly in tribal districts, and to meet the increasing demand for this service, the State Government through exclusive State budget funding has made provision for additional 92 ambulances under the 108 fleet.
The State Government has also provided for up-gradation of 28 BLS ambulances to ALS ambulances 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 added.