Not one woman in 3,500-strong staff of 108 ambulances in Rajasthan

JAIPUR: The 108 ambulances deployed to carry pregnant women to hospital do not have a single female staff. All the nursing staff and the drivers are males. In 2022, 1.69 lakh women were transported by the 108 ambulance service. Some of them delivered babies in the ambulances itself, with the help of male nursing staff.
There are about 850 such ambulances in the state for providing emergency transport to patients. The GVK-EMRI company, which operates the ambulances under a contract with the government, has deployed a staff of 3,500 but not a single woman among them.
GVK-EMRI manager Bhanu Soni said, “Our priority is to save the life of patients in emergency cases. The purpose of these ambulances is to ferry patients in emergency situations, including those injured in road accidents, trauma cases, pregnancy related emergencies, heart attack cases, and others such. The nursing staff helps in putting the patients inside the ambulances and also brings them out of the vehicle.”
He added, “In urban areas, most of the pregnant women go to hospital by themselves, as hospitals are close to their homes. But in rural areas pregnant women use the 108 ambulance services, as the roads are almost deserted at night. As only a driver and a nursing staff is deployed in each ambulance, there is always the issue of safety and security of the nursing staff. The nursing staff themselves do not want to be posted in such areas.”