Karnataka govt set to take over 108 emergency services by February 2026

Department to procure 175 new ambulances, recruit EMTs.

Bengaluru: The Health and Family Welfare Department is all set to take complete control of the 108 ambulance services by February 2026. In order to focus on the efficiency of the services, the department is planning on conducting a test to recruit Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) present in the ambulance. 

The technicians are present in the ambulance during the transit and provide first aid medical services to the patients. 

Speaking about this initiative to DH, Health and Family Welfare Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said, “This is to test their capability, it is important that these technicians are able to provide the necessary services under pressure.” 

Health and Family Welfare Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao.

“For the first time in the country, such an initiative is being taken up, we are ensuring that there will be no compromise in emergency services,” said Rao.  The department will be procuring new 175 ambulances from the Road Safety Authority to facilitate smooth functioning. “The ambulances procured in 2018 are the highest in number of vehicle breakdowns so we will be bringing in new ambulances to provide treatment in time,” said Dr Prabhudev Gowda, Deputy Director, Emergency Management and Research Institute. 

The ambulances will be equipped with a Mobile Data Terminal, a tablet device which will help the technicians and drivers to locate the patients and nearby hospitals. 

The devices will also help in integrating the ambulance services with e-Sanjeevini, a national telemedicine service. Through this, the doctors from the hospital can give directions to the EMTs and the hospital will be given an intimation about the arrival allowing them to make necessary arrangements. 

Command control centre

The command control centre with over 250 human resources will be equipped with 112 NGERSS software by C-DAC. The software will enable the call dispatchers to locate ambulances, patients and nearby hospitals. 

“To bring in more efficiency, the ambulance nearby will be allocated to the patient and immediately be taken to the nearest hospital. Currently, we have geo-tagged all the government hospitals in the software, we are awaiting details from Karnataka Private Medical Establishment to geo-tag private hospitals as well,” said Dr Gowda.  The team has also conducted a pilot study of the system with Chamarajanagar district and it has become successful. “We are able to dispatch ambulances without any glitches or delays,” he added. 

For fleet management, the department will be recruiting different agencies in each district to outsource ambulance drivers to ensure transparency.