PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/Dehradun
A total of 272 ambulances of the 108 emergency ambulance service will be deployed across the State to handle any emergency situation during the Deepawali celebrations. General manager (Projects) Anil Sharma held a meeting with the officials of the service and reviewed preparations made to deal with any emergency during the festivities. Instructions were issued to keep all the 272 ambulances deployed across the State on high alert and the employees have been asked to be ready to deal with any emergency. He said that technical preparations have been made on a large scale to ensure that ambulances deployed at sensitive places do not get stuck in traffic jams so that the central call centre in Dehradun can get prior information about the situation like jams and crowds.
In Dehradun district, ambulances have been deployed at main intersections in Survey Check, Ghantaghar, Jakhan, Raipur, Ballupur Chowk, Premnagar, Vidhan Sabha and Race Course so that on receiving information about any emergency, ambulances can be immediately dispatched in any direction. He said that along with the State headquarters of 108 service, the employees working in the districts will also be deployed on Deepawali. He said in the period from Dhanteras to Deepawali last year, due to more emergency information being received compared to other days, more vigilance is being taken so that no one has to face problems.
Additional technical staff has also been deployed at the central call centre to deal with the increased calls. Additionally, mobile teams have also been formed by 108 emergency services across the State, which are assessing the promptness of the employees deployed in Dehradun as well as in each district from 8 AM to 12 AM. Apart from this, 18 additional backup ambulances have also been deployed.
During the period from Dhanteras to Deepawali last year, the 108 emergency services received 759 calls from October 31 to November 1. These included 210 related to pregnancy, 57 road traffic accident cases, 19 related to cardiac issues and 473 other cases.
