Government Of Delhi Approves New Scheme For Free Ambulance Services in the City

The Delhi government approved the "Home to Hospital" scheme to provide free ambulance services in the city. The decision was taken in a cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Health department officials said, //people can call an ambulance at home for critical illnesses such as injuries of chest, abdomen, pelvis or spine, crush injuries or any burn caused by an electric shock.

Specialized Ambulance Improves Treatment Time for Ischemic Stroke
Using an ambulance that included a CT scanner, point-of-care laboratory, telemedicine connection and a specialized prehospital stroke team resulted in decreased time to treatment for ischemic stroke.

The scheme will be provided to people by Centralized Accident & Trauma Services (CATS). CATS was set up in 1991 and was being used mainly for the transportation of accident victims, referral cases, pregnant women, and victims of sexual assault.

"At present, CATS has 155 ambulances. We plan to procure 110 new ambulances besides setting up of a modern and state-of-the-art control room to support the new initiative," a senior official in the health department said. He added that additional manpower will be provided for the new ambulances as well as human resource deficit in the existing 155 ambulances and control room.

Dr Shakti Gupta, who heads the hospital administration department at AIIMS, said the proposed increase in number of ambulances would be of great help. "In order to cater to additional needs such as home care we need to augment the infrastructure as well," he said.

Temperature Drop Linked With Slower Ambulance Response Time
A new study reveals that the ambulance response time drops by more than 1 percent with every one degree drop in air temperature during winter.

Source-Medindia

Fewer Ambulance Calls Thanks To No-smoking Law in Colorado Casinos
Ambulance calls to casinos in Gilpin County dropped about 20 percent, when smoking was banned from casinos in Colorado, according to research.

New System Monitors Internal Hemorrhaging of Patients in Air Ambulance Services
It consists of a patient monitor that tracks the heart and respiratory rates along with blood pressure, and a connected computer that processes the data.