NHAI tightens response time for ambulances after road crashes
Golden Hour is the most important key to saving a road mishap victim’s life. Given this, ambulances deployed on the National Highways will now have to pay a penalty of Rs 10,000 if they fail to do so. Similarly, they will be fined the same amount for failing to reach the accident within ten minutes.
There are around 3,000 ambulances and 1,000 patrol vehicles and cranes, each covering nearly 50,000 km of highways. As per data shared by the Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, 77,234 road accidents occurred on national highways till July so far.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has changed its norms and set a 10-minute deadline for ambulances deployed on the highways to reach any accident site within a 10-km vicinity. In its policy guidelines, the NHAI said ambulances should bring accident victims to the nearest hospital within 1 hour from the time of ticket acceptance.
The step has been taken to cut delays in emergency response during the “golden hour”. Failure to meet the timeline could attract a penalty of Rs 10,000 per incident.
For incident locations beyond 10 km, allowed time shall be proportionally increased and it will be verified through GPS data or Incident Management System dashboard.
It said, “Based on location of incident, the ambulance should not take more than 10 minutes (from time of the ticket acceptance) for covering any accident within 10-km vicinity.” “For incident locations beyond 10 km, allowed time shall be proportionally increased. The same shall be verified through GPS data/ IMS Care Dashboard,’ it added.
All these vehicles are equipped with GPS and dedicated mobile devices running the NHAI Care application, which relays crash-location information to response vehicles and records the action taken and other data during emergencies. The NHAI said in order to ensure effective implementation of NHAI Care System, AIS-140-compliant GPS devices have been installed on all on-road units, including ambulances, Cranes, and patrolling vehicles, deployed on NHAI projects.
NHAI has helpline number 1033 to report any problem. In case of emergency, people get guided through this helpline number to book an ambulance. A dedicated 24X7 team issues tickets for ambulances, cranes and patrol vehicles for quick response.
The delay in response time in case of accidents has been noted by the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety, as well as in the performance audit by CAG.
“Therefore, all Project Directors (PDs) and Regional Officers (ROs) are directed to ensure strict compliance of the guidelines being issued vide this circular as the same concerns the Public Health and Safety and any laxity in this regard shall not be overlooked,” NHAI said.
