Ramalinga Raju, Ex-Chief of Satyam Computers, is behind bars for accounting fraud. But his succesful model of emergency services conceptualised by him is finding greater acceptance.
A growing number of state governments is opting for the public-private partnership model of ambulance services designed by Raju on the lines of the 911 emergency services in the US.
Over the past seven years, 11 states have rolled out emergency services in public-private partnership with the Emergency Medical and Research Institute, an NGO started by Raju in 2005 and taken over by GVK group in 2009 after the Satyam founder went to jail for a multi-crore accounting fraud.
Now, Uttar Pradesh plans to line up the biggest fleet of 1,800 ambulances by next year under GVK EMRI, which currently has a combined fleet of 3,147 ambulances. UP is among the three states that are set to avail of the round-the-clock services that can be accessed through a toll-free helpline by dialling 108.
"The 108 services will soon become pan-India. Soon everybody will be calling 108 to get access to emergency services," said BN Sridhar, GVK EMRI's chief operating officer. He added that the emergency services supposed to be provided by the government through the helpline number 104 are now non-existent.
Besides the 24-hour ambulances mapped with hospital availability and a communication system with police stations to expedite legal formalities in accident cases, citizens can readily access online doctors to assist them in a medical or fire emergency.
"The unique thing about 108 is that it is a service that has a centralised state-level database, making it easier to track emergencies, unlike any other government emergency service, including 100," Sridhar said.
With big states such as Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh providing these services, the 108 ambulance service responds to a million emergencies on average every quarter.
Even in states where other organisations are providing the services, efforts are on to integrate these with the 108 ambulance service.
Tamil Nadu, where the service has 99% coverage, will ramp up by 45% the current fleet of 436 ambulances by June-end.
While Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have already achieved 100% coverage, states such as Kerala, Goa and Madhya Pradesh have covered more than 50% of their population.
In most cases, the state governments are funding 95% of the capital and maintenance costs, while GVK is putting in the rest of the 5% and the managerial costs.
On average, the state governments incur 1 lakh per ambulance per year as maintenance and operations cost.
Two non-government organisations had in 2008 contested in the Supreme Court GVK EMRI's selection in most states, but with the court ruling in its favour in 2010, GVK is looking at expanding its reach across the country.
Most state governments have been routing the funds for the service through the National Rural Health Mission. With increasing coverage, however, the state governments will have to bear a bigger chunk of the operating costs that range from 50-80 crore per year, excluding additions to the fleet.
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