Bhubaneswar: In a major boost to emergency healthcare service in the state, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi flagged off 250 new ambulances for the benefit of patients.
The new ambulances were launched by the CM during a special event held at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar in the second phase of the emergency healthcare expansion programme in the state.
Earlier, 150 ambulances were launched in the first phase on December 23 last year. With the induction of the latest fleet, the government has invested around Rs 111 crore to strengthen emergency medical services.
With this addition, Odisha has as many as 866 emergency ambulances operating across the state.
In addition, 500 special ambulances are running under the Janani Express scheme to cater to pregnant women and sick children.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said the focus is on enabling the patients to reach hospitals smoothly in the shortest possible time. The government is making continuous efforts to make ambulance services more efficient and robust across the state, he said.
Concrete steps are now being taken to provide uninterrupted ambulance services from every block to the district headquarters hospital, and from district hospitals to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack, the CM said.
Majhi also announced that ambulance services will be extended to airstrips in places such as Rourkela and Jeypore under the Bimana Yojana.
It may be noted that Odisha has already deployed five Advanced Life Support ambulances at various airports and two ALS ambulances for the cancer hospital at Jharsuguda. On an average, more than 5,000 patients are transported daily to government hospitals through ambulance services across the state, officials said.