The absence of doctors in the remote and mountainous parts is reflecting in the functioning of the 108 ambulance service in the State. Since their introduction in the year 2008 these ambulances have acted as the birth places of 5,931
children of the State as lack of proper medical facilities in the remote areas forces the 108 staff to ferry the pregnant women to the district hospitals and many times the long travelling time results in child births in the ambulances.The data suggests that 1220 births in ambulances occurred last year while 882 births are reported in this year till August 31. The 108 service has 139 ambulances which includes a boat ambulance (deployed in Tehri lake) in the State.
The data further suggests that with 38 per cent of total cases, the pregnancy related cases constitute the lion’s share of cases handled by the emergency ambulance service.
When contacted the Sate Head of GVK, Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI) — which operates the 108 ambulance service in Uttarakhand — Manish Tinku said that the 108 service is mandated for the emergency care and take the patients to the nearest medical facility but when required the trained ambulance staff is capable for handling the cases of birth. He informed that to cater the large number of referral cases where the lower centres send the patients to higher centres, the GVK EMRI would be soon get 10 Advance life Support (AlS) Ambulances.
These AlS ambulances are equipped with defibrillators and ventilators. Due to the high number of pregnancy cases they are required to serve, the staff deployed in the ambulances are given special training to handle the cases of child births.The 108 ambulances are not only hampered by the lack of doctors in remote areas but sources inform that many times the doctors posted in the health centres refuse to accept the patients and ask the staff to ferry them to higher centre.
One ambulance staff on condition of anonymity said that there are many cases when the doctors posted in the CHC or PHC asks them to take the pregnant lady to higher centres due to which the chances of birth in ambulances increase.