New Year Lifeline: J&K adds 52 critical care ambulances to emergency network

Srinagar, Jan 1: In a significant boost to emergency healthcare infrastructure in J&K, a fleet of 52 new critical care ambulances have been procured by the Health and Medical Education Department.

These are aimed at ensuring faster and safer transfers of patients to higher-level medical facilities, in a bid to save lives.

Minister of Health and Medical Education Sakina Itoo said the ambulances come as part of ongoing efforts by the Health and Medical Education Department to strengthen pre-hospital and emergency care.

She said the Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulances will be deployed at Government Medical Colleges, Sub-District Hospitals and District Hospitals of Kashmir and Jammu divisions.

Itoo said the ambulances were equipped for advanced critical care and would be flagged off soon.

“We are completing the paperwork for the ambulances, and it will be almost over soon. The ambulances will be sent to all the hospitals where they are needed,” she said.

The minister said the vehicles had been designed to provide life-saving interventions enroute for emergencies, and include ventilators, defibrillators, and other essential critical care equipment.

Itoo said that these would be useful in reducing transit risks for seriously ill or injured patients.

“Our endeavour is bridging the gap to tertiary care centres like Government Medical Colleges and SKIMS,” she said.

However, experts expressed concern over the persistent challenge in the form of an acute dearth of adequately trained staff to operate these advanced vehicles.

Critical care ambulances require skilled paramedics and emergency medical technicians (EMTs). Many times, doctors trained in advanced life support protocols are also essential to ensure the safe transit of patients.

The doctors are also required for ventilator management, defibrillation, and en-route stabilisation of critically ill patients.

However, J&K’s health sector is grappling with widespread vacancies of nurses, paramedics, and doctors.

Thousands of unfilled posts exacerbated by recruitment delays and limited specialised training programmes for pre-hospital emergency care are another weak area that puts a question mark over the utility and efficacy of the ambulances.

The full potential of these high-tech ambulances would remain underutilised without addressing these shortfalls.