The response time of EMRI 108 ambulances has improved in the past year in the State, Health Minister C. Vijaya Baskar told the Assembly on Thursday.
“We have almost reached the status of developed countries where the response time is eight minutes. In metro, the response time is 8.32 minutes from 11 minutes last year. In rural areas, the response time now is 13 minutes from 16 minutes last year,” he said. The Minister was responding to DMK MLA P. Senthil Kumar, who wanted the government to expand trauma care services in the State.
Making the announcements, the Minister said the government allocated around ₹46 crore for the Tamil Nadu Accident and Emergency Initiative (TAEI) Programme for 2018-19, to set up trauma care centres in medical college and district headquarters hospitals and emergency care centres in block PHCs.
12 hubs
The government has also planned to set up 12 hubs at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, the Omandurar Multisuper Speciality Hospital, Stanley, Kilpauk, Madurai Rajaji Government Hospital, besides Coimbatore, Salem, Thanjavur, Tirunelveli, Tiruchi, Vellore and Chengalpattu, connecting 160 hospitals under STEMI (ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction), at a cost of ₹9.20 crore. The government has proposed to train 108 emergency healthcare.
An amount of ₹1.03 crore has been allocated to set up emergency care and recovery centre in the Chennai Corporation limits and Pudukottai district to treat wandering mentally ill persons.