Bhubaneswar: Plans are afoot to enable people in Odisha book an ambulance through the ride-hailing mobile app ‘Odisha Yatri’. The state government is working out a plan to integrate the ambulance services with its homegrown cab aggregator app.
The Health and Family Welfare (H&FW) department, in coordination with the State Transport Authority (STA) and Capital Region Urban Transport (CRUT), is working on modalities to onboard ambulances on the ONDC-based platform to improve access and last-mile healthcare delivery.
It may be noted that Odisha Yatri is a direct-to-driver app implemented by the state government. There is no commission or middle-men and the payment made by the user goes 100 per cent to the owner of the vehicle.
The Health and Family Welfare department will coordinate with CRUT, the licensed aggregator of the app, to ensure seamless tech-enabled access to ambulances. “Once implemented, patients will be able to locate, book, and track ambulances directly through the mobile application, a move aimed at enhancing the efficiency and transparency of emergency transport across the state,” a health official was quoted by TNIE as saying.
The initiative comes close on the heels of the government’s decision to regulate private ambulance operations. As decided, a campaign-mode registration drive has been launched to bring all private ambulances under a single, standardised platform.
It was decided at a high-level committee chaired recently by principal secretary of Commerce and Transport department Usha Padhee that the technical committee of the STA in coordination with the Health department will soon finalise ambulance hire charges in order to streamline the process.
