108 ambulance command control centre to officially come under Karnataka health department

Bengaluru: The Karnataka health department is officially taking over the command and control centre of the state's 108 ambulance services.

While the government's decision was announced in this year's budget, in a bid to strengthen the functioning of this free state-wide emergency service 'Arogya Kavacha', a government order to this effect was issued on June 10.

The MoU signed with EMRI Green Health Services to handle the command control centre will be revoked and handed over entirely to the health department. The department will manage the existing fleet of 715 ambulances using the 112 National Government Emergency Response Support System (NG ERSS) software at the state-level and decentralise the ambulance services by handing over management to district health officers (DHOs) via district control centres.

For this, the department must submit a proposal to obtain more manpower to operationalise this project, sign an MoU with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) Thiruvananthapuram, to manage both the 108 Arogya Kavacha and 104 Arogya Sahayavani (helpline) through the central command and control centre for a period of five years, and file a separate proposal for exemption from the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act, 1999 4(g).

Going forward, the department will also come up with a detailed action plan and obtain technical and administrative approvals from the concerned authorities.

The funds for this project must be used within the allocated funds for 2025-26, read the order.

This move is expected to significantly enhance the efficiency of the 108 ambulance service while saving nearly Rs 250 crores for the state exchequer, wrote state health minister Dinesh Gundu Rao in a post on X.

He noted that ambulance drivers and nursing staff will be recruited on an outsourced basis at the district level. "We are beginning this transition in Chamarajanagar district, with phased implementation across all districts to follow," he wrote.

Beyond this, the state also plans to integrate over 1,000 additional state-owned ambulances under the command centre.