Even as Kandivli patient's kin highlight difficulties faced in availing EMS, state says hi-tech equipment led to delay
A day after dna reported on the harrowing experience of a Kandivli-based senior citizen and his family while availing the 108 emergency medical services, the state health department officials agreed there were technical difficulties in transporting the patient to the hospital.
Seventy-eight-year-old Ajay Chakaravarty's family and neighbours at Vishwadarshan Society in Samtanagar had said they had immense difficulty bringing Ajay downstairs from their third-floor apartment and then getting him on to the ambulance, all of which, they alleged, denied him the golden hour treatment. Ajay had collapsed due to a cardiac condition on Thursday.
"The patient was brought down on a sheet and put on the roll-out stretcher attached to the ambulance. But the stretcher wouldn't go back inside the ambulance due to some technical problems. Hence, we had to transfer him on to the ambulance's second seat. The stretcher was removed and locked in the society itself," said Dr Dyaneshwar Shelke, chief operating officer, Bharat Vikas Group-Maharashtra Emergency Medical Services scheme.
PT Palnitkar, the patient's neighbour, said, "The doctor and driver locked the stretcher in the society. They were under a lot of stress when the stretcher wouldn't go inside the ambulance."
"Ajay is still admitted in the ICCU at Karuna Hospital. He is critical," said his wife Shila. The patient's relatives and neighbours have complained that the ambulance had to be given a push for close to 15 minutes before it would start. "While he was ailing, we were pushing the ambulance to make it start," added Shila.
Admitting to these problems, Shelke said, "Yes, there were difficulties... The hi-tech equipment in the ambulance consumes the vehicle's battery." The state health department officials, however, also defended themselves and said the patient had been attended to by the doctor within 20-30 minutes of receiving the call.
Shelke said in spite of technical difficulties at some point, the wider essence of such an essential service should be appreciated. "People should not be discouraged to call the 108 service. We have attended to 10,060 emergency calls since its inception. We have given prompt service to people hurt in vehicular accidents, women in labour, cardiac emergencies, and paralysis, snake bite, poisoning or attempted suicide patients," he said.
Because 108 is a toll-free service, there have been cases of misuse too. Only 2.14% calls received of the total 4,50,833 have been genuine. "We have received over 1 lakh hoax calls. We are initiating strict police action against callers who are not genuine," said Shelke.
Number-wise
4,50,833: Total calls received
10,060: Emergency Calls (vehicular accidents 13.05%, cardiac cases 1.36%, labour/pregnancy 21.43%, others ie cases of paralysis, snake bite, poisoning, suicide, burns, industrial accidents 64.16%)
4,40,773: Non-emergency calls (including appreciation, hoax and plain inquiry)
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