Andhra Pradesh - Guntur   

Timely help at people’s doorstep

Staff Reporter

Solace on wheels: An ambulance of the EMRI service.

GUNTUR: When 24-year-old Sujatha of Rompicharla village in Narasaraopet mandal, who was expecting, started experiencing convulsions at about 10 p.m. on June 9, her husband, Florence, knew for sure whom to call for help.

Living in a village lacking medical facilities and located 21 km away Narasaraopet, he knew that he could bank on the emergency ‘108’ service.

Within minutes, the ambulance arrived in the village and picked up the woman. The two members inside the ambulance, technician Naidu and driver Aliyad Basha, who have been trained to handle such emergencies, knew how to face the situation.

The vehicle started at 11.03 p.m. and within minutes, Sujatha was writhing in pain. The ambulance stopped at Ravipadu and it did not take too long for the two to realise that it was not going to be an abnormal delivery. “We immediately contacted the 24-hour emergency cell in Hyderabad and followed every step advised by the doctors.”

“The 108 service is not equipped to handle such cases,” K. Dharneesh, district coordinator of EMRI, told The Hindu on Thursday.

In a few minutes, a baby girl was delivered to the joy of the parents. This is one of the 28 delivery cases handled by the Emergency Management Research Institute 108 service in the district. “Our ambulances have been equipped to handle normal deliveries and even perform minor surgeries,” says EMRI zonal integrator J.V.S. Sastry.

The service is extremely beneficial in remote areas, which do not have proper transport facilities. “It takes us no more than 10 minutes to reach the village and our staff is fully prepared to face these kinds of emergencies,” Dharneesh says.

The EMRI service handled 5,647 cases in the district in 2006, with a rescue rate of 82 per cent. In May 2007 alone, the ‘108’ services handled 1,100 cases. The EMRI service is set to increase its fleet of 27 ambulances in the district. One new ambulance service will soon start in Guntur.

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