ITANAGAR, 9 Mar: The GVK Emergency Management & Research Institute (GVK EMRI), Itanagar, which operates the 108 Emergency Response Ambulance Service in the state, has requested the public “to call for emergencies instead of making prank calls.”
In a media communiqué, the GVK EMRI said that upon observation, it was noted that almost 80 percent of calls are “not-effective nuisance calls, prank calls, wrong calls or non-emergency calls.”
“We request the general public to avoid such calls to the 108 toll free number because people who are calling for an actual emergency may get deprived of assistance.”
The 108 Emergency Response Ambulance Service was launched by Chief Minister Pema Khandu, on 21 June, 2021 at the state civil secretariat with 50 ambulances.
Presently, there are 84 ambulances operating across the state through a centralised call centre on public-private partnership (PPP) model with the National Health Mission, Itanagar.
These ambulances are to be positioned at strategic health facility locations to cover all parts of the state.
All 84 ambulances have been allotted equitably considering various parameters, such as assembly constituency, population base and geographical locations.
Reportedly, 17 states and two union territories in the country have implemented the 108 Emergency Response service project through PPP mode.
Till February 2022, the GVK EMRI has served 2,140 cases, out of which 518 were pregnancy-related and 321 road traffic accident cases. The helpline has an average handling time of less than 90 seconds and an average response time of 12.52 minutes, besides 14 dedicated ambulances serving during the Covid pandemic.
