On the occasion of fifth anniversary of GVKEMRI-108, a function was held at 108-service campus in Dehradun on Wednesday in which State Health Minister Surendra Singh Negi released the souvenir on 108-service highlighting the achievements since its launching.
He also urged from the gathering to strive round the clock for providing best emergency services to the victims. After inaugurating the function, Negi said that the service is proved extremely beneficial for providing immediate medical relief to the patients even in the tough hilly terrains of the state also. Negi said that the number of emergency cases handled by the 108-services has been increasing and the department has to work harder to provide immediate medical relief to patients.
Earlier, Piyush Singh, Director, National Rural Health Mission said that 108-service has proved extremely beneficial for curtailing mother mortality rate and infant mortality rate in the Garhwal and Kumaon divisions of Uttarakhand. “The infant mortality rate was reduced from 44 to 36 and mother mortality rate was also plunged from 350 to 162 in the State,” he said, adding that 108-service has proved very conducive for institutional delivery in the State. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Yogesh Chandra Sharma, Director General, Medical, Health and Family Welfare said that department has been providing support to the 108-service in order to reach to the masses, especially those who are living in the remote areas of the state. later, Uttarakhand State Head, Manish Tinkoo said that Uttarakhand was the third state in the country after Andhra Pradesh and Gujrat to launch 108-service in state. According to him, fleet of 140 ambulances have been providing medical services to the victims and Emergency Response Centre of the 108-service receives call on every 12 seconds. Tinkoo claimed that more than five lakhs victims were assisted during different types of medical or police emergencies and the emergency response technicians had saved the lives of 11,285 victims so far since its launching. He claimed that 108-service has handled 1,93,993 cases and 4,216 birth took place in the ambulance so far. Tinkoo said that the 108-service provide emergency medical assistance in every five minute and in every 12 minute in case of pregnancy cases in the State.