400 new Maharashtra ambulance services to hit the road by February 15

The much touted Emergency Medical Services project of the state is likely to be launched before February 15. The state health department is likely to display some of the ambulances procured in the project on January 26.

As many as 937 state-of-the-art ambulances will be manned by doctors and the project is expected to cost Rs1,000 crore. “However, initially around 400 ambulances would be put to service by February 15 while the rest of the ambulances would be put to service by the end of March or April.

A 15-day extensive training programme is being given to the doctors so that they can handle emergency cases and operate equipment. The doctors on board will constantly be in touch with specialists, who will be present in the control

room all the time. There are two sets of ambulances, which have been approved for the project that is the Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Life Support (ALS) by the Automobile Research Association of India (ARAI) in Pune.

The BLS ambulance will have basic equipment such as oxygen cylinders and medicines, while the ALS will be equipped with ventilators, ECG machines, cardiac monitors and other life support essentials.

Of the 937 ambulances, 120 will be allotted to Mumbai.