India short of emergency medical services as ambulance availability is 3: 1000 people

Bengaluru, July , 2017:

India is facing a shortfall in emergency medical services (EMS) in urban and rural areas. The ratio of ambulance per person in India is currently 3:1000, said Manish Sacheti, CFO, Ziqitza Healthcare.

The practice of ambulance outsourcing in India is growing. This sector has a bright future as the outsourcing model proves to be beneficial here for any industry. Most of the corporate houses require dedicated ambulances stationed at their work place to provide immediate medical assistance to their employees during an emergency. The industrial areas too are looking for EMS professionals. A hospital’s, core competency is treatment and find it convenient to outsource their patient transfer service to an expert in the field. With the advent of air and speed boat ambulances this sector is poised to grow at a tremendous rate, he added.

A decade ago, there was no single ambulance service to be pressed in for a medical emergency. The sector was dominated by fragmented and small time private ambulance operators. However, India is taking steady steps to improve its ambulance services with the aim to save more lives. The government is introducing several schemes like `Integrated Ambulance Service' to help bring about this much required change in patient transfer. Apart from this, better road infrastructure, use of technology and training the right talent has brought in the much needed improvements to the sector, said the Ziqitza CFO.

In the US, UK and the EU, EMS covers not just ambulances but fire and police services, but Asia and Africa have only a few ambulances pressed in to transport during a crisis. Compared to this most of the states in India have 108 services running. Although going by the size of population, the ambulance services are inadequate but we do see drastic improvement in service compared to a couple of years ago, he noted.

 The country has a long way to go to achieve minimum fatality caused due to lack of emergency services but we are surely moving towards a positive future. With the aid of the government and the willingness of private organizations to service the sector, there has been reduction in the number of deaths and increase in the reach of ambulances, said Sacheti.

There has been tremendous economic development and we see the need for emergency medical services all through day and night at private hospitals, factories and highway projects . There are ample enquires for Ziqitza because we provide ambulance with trained paramedics/doctors and drivers who are available at all times.

With the overall healthcare business growing at exponential rates, hospitals in India are feeling the pressure to prioritize on their core capability that is managing their patients and providing excellent treatments. Hence, hospitals associate with experts in EMS to ensure effective transfer of patients.

A critical aspect of this is the timely availability of ambulances at the time of need. Hence if the ambulance remains idle it leads to an increase in the operations cost of the hospitals, also they have will have to invest in the training of paramedics increasing the costs further. This is where Ziqitza plays a pivotal role with its investments in high-end technology and processes to transfer patients to the hospitals efficiently within the golden hour increases the chance of survival, he said.