PANAJI: Out of the fleet of 20 ‘first responder bike’ ambulances, under 108 emergency services, which were inaugurated by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on February 8, only ten of them are currently operational.
Interestingly, even though these ambulances were launched on February 8, it took three weeks for the 108 management to make them operational from March 1.
According to GVK EMRI 108 management, the delay in putting the bike ambulances on the field was due to delay by the management in identifying the places across Goa to station the first responders as per requirement.
“The first responder technicians, who deal with the emergencies are going to take some time to adjust, as some of them are not familiar with the local areas,” said an official. The official said that for the first two days i.e. March 1 and 2, a total of 26 calls were attended by the bike ambulances out of which 16 calls were those of road accidents. He said that very soon remaining ten of the 20 bike ambulances launched will also be put into service.
The main objective of launching this service is to reduce the response time and provide timely treatment, as every life is precious to us, the official said. “These ambulances are equipped with all the equipment required to revive and stabilise the patients, which include two oxygen cylinders, pulse oximeter, stethoscope, glucometer, splint bands and other medical equipment.
Meanwhile, the 108 emergency services provided by the GVK EMRI received 1,100 calls on March 2, the day Holi festival was celebrated in the state. The number of emergency calls was almost 200 more compared to such calls received by the service operators during Holi festival celebrations last year. The number of calls recorded last year was 902.
Out of the 1,100 calls, a total of 170 were of medical emergencies and seven of police emergencies. The GVK EMRI team found it difficult to attend to all calls, as its fleet comprises of 41 ambulances and ten first motorcycle-borne responders. It was informed that majority of the cases were of road accidents.
“All the emergencies were properly managed by 108 ambulances, as the operational preparation was envisaged and planned a week earlier with the ambulances being stationed at highly sensitive accident-prone areas like Candolim, Margao, Mapusa, Verna, Vasco, Porvorim with good support of Goa Police and traffic cell,” said an official of the GVK EMRI management.
The official said that since its inception in Goa, 108 ambulance services have attended a total 21,26,346 calls, out of which 4,26,241 were emergency calls, 28,527 were pregnancy-related and 77,629 were road traffic accidents along with 9,064 police-related emergencies.