Launched six months ago, the 108 ambulance service has reached out to people during medical emergencies and ferried over 30,800 such persons to hospitals in Jammu and Kashmir despite the COVID-19 situation, officials said. “As many as 30,846 emergency cases were provided the facility of the newly started 108 ambulance service for transportation of such persons to the nearest health facilities in Jammu and Kashmir during the last six months, despite COVID conditions”, Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education, Atal Dulloo said here on Wednesday. In the management of emergencies, he pointed out that the golden hour is a critical period wherein a person who receives medical attention within an hour of an incident has a significantly higher chance of surviving and recovering than a person who does not. “Hence, the newly introduced 108 ambulance system has largely revolved around the idea of getting patients to the hospital within the earliest time possible with the help of advance GPS technology and 24×7 operational call centre responding to toll free number 108”, Dulloo, who was the architect of this health project in J&K, said. The 108 and 102 ambulance service was launched in the Union territory of Jammu & Kashmir on March 24 by former L-G G C Murmu. “Since then, 30,846 patients have been provided emergency services by 108 ambulances. These ambulances have been instrumental in COVID-19 response also by providing services to 2,931 COVID-19 positive patients and 1,618 suspected cases”, Dulloo said. The officer said that there is a fleet of 138 functional 108 ambulances providing round-the-clock services in J&K. “As such, two main classes of ambulances are being operated, 64 BLS (Basic Life Support) ambulances and 74 ALS (Advanced Life Support) ambulances. BLS vehicles are equipped with basic diagnostic and monitoring devices and medicines and dressing material”, he added. The senior bureaucrat spelled out the details of the facility saying that these are intended to carry non-critical cases and those which need basic monitoring. “ALS ambulances, on the other hand, are well equipped with life-saving devices. They are dispatched to deal with only the most critically ill cases and are operated by teams of highly trained Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs). ALS vehicles are stocked with basic diagnostic instruments, emergency lifesaving medicines, IV fluids, oxygen cylinders, AMBU bags, dressing material, and stretchers”, he added. In addition to 108 ambulance services, 102 ambulance service is also been provided for transportation of pregnant ladies and children up to 1 year. So far, 7,591 patients have been provided services by 102 ambulances since its launch, he said. There is a fleet of 286 functional 102 ambulance services, he added. The department had started with a fleet of 112 functional 108 ambulances which has been increased to 138 and there are plans for further increasing the fleet in near future to extend the services in every nook and corner of the UT. All the citizens are urged to utilise the emergency services for transportation of patients by dialling the toll-free number – 108.
