Karnataka - Bangalore

MoU signed with Hyderabad institute for emergency medical care

— Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.

Pact: Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and Chief Executive Officer of EMRI Venkat Changavalli (right) after the signing of an MoU in Bangalore on Thursday. Minister for Tourism G. Janardhan Reddy and Health Minister B. Sriramulu are with them.

BANGALORE: The State Government on Thursday signed an agreement with the Hyderabad-based Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI) to provide free emergency services to the rural people under the “Arogya Kavacha” scheme.

EMRI would launch the comprehensive Emergency Response Services (ERS) with the support of Medical, Police, and Fire departments of the State on November 1.

A total 517 ambulances would be deployed in a phased manner, starting from the launch date. The Health and Family Welfare Department would provide land for establishing the call centre as well bear the expenditure on equipment and ambulances, management cost and human resource, and also administrative expenditure. The Government and EMRI share the cost in the ratio of 95:5.

The MoU was signed by Venkat Changavalli, CEO, EMRI, and Madan Gopal, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, in the presence of Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and Health Minister B. Sriramulu.

Mr. Yeddyurappa said road accidents in the State were on the rise, and around 10,000 deaths occurred every year in the State, of which Bangalore city accounted for 40 per cent of them. With the launch of the scheme, deaths due to want of medical care would reduce in rural areas. A sum of Rs. 10 crore had been allocated in the budget for executing the scheme, he said.

Established in 2005, EMRI is a non-profit organisation founded and funded by B. Ramalinga Raju, chairman, Satyam Computers. Mr. Changavalli said the people of the State would be able to access the emergency services round the clock from November 1, Kannada Rajyotsava Day.

A centralised Emergency Response Centre would be located in Bangalore to receive calls through a toll free telephone number – 108. The service would be available on both landline and mobile phones from anywhere in the State. EMRI would recruit, position, and train people, including drivers and medically trained persons, who would be present in every trip made by the ambulance while transporting an emergency case to a hospital, the CEO said.

EMRI currently provides services in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Uttarakhand with over 900 ambulances and over 7,000 people. It had saved 40,000 lives so far. It had signed up with the governments of Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Goa and Assam to launch the 108 ERS in these States.

EMRI would introduce two types of ambulances – Advanced Life Support (costs Rs. 16 lakh) and Basic Life Support (Rs. 10 lakh). As many as 517 ambulances would be introduced by 2010. The average time taken to reach the emergency spot is 14 minutes in urban areas and 21 minutes in rural areas.

Each ambulance would cover a population of one lakh.

The total cost of implementing the scheme is Rs. 221.25 crore for a three-year period (2008-09 to 2010-11).

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