Ambulance service spreads network in Himachal

Now with a fleet of 172 ambulances , the national free ambulance service popularly called 108 has so far handled over 325,178 medical , police and fire related emergencies across Himachal Pradesh since Dec 2010 .

 “These include , 10,840 police and 2555 fire , 16,230 vehicular trauma and 13,537 cardiac , 16,350 respiratory distress cases ,” a spokesman of the state government said here Sunday .

 “The service has also ferried 55,790 pregnant women in hospitals . Interestingly 2,353 deliveries have been carried out in the ambulances on way to hospital ,”he  said .

 On an average , 3200 calls are received everyday at 108 emergency management centre out of which 98 per cent of the calls are handled within the first ring and an ambulance , the spokesman said .

 An ambulance is despatched in emergency within 3.5 minutes . It promises a response time of 19 minutes in urban areas and in 39 minutes in rural areas.