Emergency medical service still a far cry in Mumbai

The emergency medical services (EMS) that was being planned by the civic body along with private hospitals almost three years ago, is yet to see the light of the day.

With Mumbai topping the death toll charts in road accidents, the need to have a well-monitored and equipped emergency service is clearly evident.

However, the authorities say that things are at a standstill due to “poor response” from the ambulance agencies and other private parties.

The BMC initiative was to integrate their pool of ambulances with the ones from private hospitals and agencies and connect them through the global positioning system (GPS). A call centre was being planned for monitoring and coordination to help the victim or patient reach the nearest hospital within 12 minutes.

However, showing complete unawareness about the plan, assistant municipal commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar said, “Nothing like this is on our agenda right now.”

The authorities had felt a pinch during the 26/11 terror strike which had resulted in mass casualties. However, no specific progress was recorded in the EMS plan which needed at least 70 ambulances.

“The BMC was trying to rope in agencies and hospitals which have more than five ambulances.

“However, there has been a very poor response from most of these agencies,” said Dr Paresh Navalkar, director, Life Supporters Institute of Health Services (LIHS), which had tied up with the BMC. “There have been several meetings to get things moving, but the civic body cannot force anyone to join. The move has to be voluntary.”

The plan also included conducting mock drills in civic hospitals to tackle situations like mass casualties.

For now, the civic body along with LIHS, Hinduja Hospital and other agencies like the Fire Brigade and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), have planned a two-day exercise on
February 26 and 27 called ‘Tatpar Mumbai 2010’ to
improve the disaster preparedness. “The NDRF is demonstrating here for the very first time,” said Navalkar.

“The EMS will only get into the working mode when the government, NGOs and public as well as private hospitals come together. “I believe, we have an urgent need of such a service in Mumbai,” said Dr Kushrav Bhajan from Hinduja Hospital.