Govt of Tamil Nadu signs MoU with Emergency Management Research Institute

The Emergency Management Research Institute (EMRI) entered into an agreement to provide free emergency assistance to the people of Tamil Nadu in the presence of Dr. M. Karunanidhi, Chief Minister of the State of Tamil Nadu.

The MoU was signed by EMRI Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Venkat Changavalli and Mr. P.W.C Davidar (IAS), Special secretary to Government, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Project Director Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project. Also present on the occasion were Mr. Y.N.S Kishore, Lead Partner, EMRI and Mr. S. Subramaninan, Head of Operations, Tamil Nadu, EMRI

EMRI will be launching the comprehensive Emergency Response Services (ERS) covering Police, Fire and Medical in the state of Tamil Nadu in a phased manner. The operations will begin within four months of signing the MoU. A total of 198 ambulances will service the entire population.

The TN Government’s Public Health and Welfare Department would provide land for establishment of the call centre as well bear the expenditure on necessary equipment and material (software), equipped ambulances, running cost, human resources and amount for administrative expenditure.

On the occasion Changavalli said that “so far this scheme has been under implementation in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat only. Tamil Nadu would be the second state to implement this scheme in South India. The emergency services will be provided free of charge to the population of TN. The scheme envisages to establish a central call centre also apart from these ambulances which would be equipped with all the life-saving appliances and medicines. People would be able to made an emergency call to this centre.”

A centralised Emergency Response Center will be located in Chennai to receive calls through 108 a toll-free telephone number available on landline and mobile phones round the clock and from any where within the state. EMRI will bring in technology and service excellence to work towards improving delivery of emergency response to global standards over a period of time. It will partner with hospitals and nursing homes in providing free hospitalisation for 24 hours for patient stabilization. Recruit position and train required human resources, including pilots (drivers) and medically trained persons (Emergency Medical Technicians-EMT) who will be present in every trip made by the ambulance while transporting an emergency case to a hospital.

The first year expenditure of the scheme would be Rs 104 millions while the entire cost of the scheme would be Rs 226.8 millions. The ambulance will be equipped with all the necessary life-saving appliances, medicines and other paraphernalia and every driver would be given a mobile phone. This ambulance would be operated by using GIS and GPS modes. These modes will help locate the geographical position of the ambulance and if necessary would help the driver and crew of the ambulance to locate the victim or affected person’s exact position. This would save a lot of time and energy.