There's hope yet for Delhi's accident-prone denizens
A speeding truck. A scooterist taken unawares. At 12 midnight there are few on the lonely stretch who stop to help the unattended victim. Till a good samaritan dials 1099 and within 10 minutes sends the patient away in the ambulances of the Centralised Accidents and Trauma Services (CATS).
A scenario vastly different from what the service had come to represent in the past few years. It was the only service of its kind to be introduced in Delhi in 1991. But inefficiency and a certain callousness had eroded its credibility. A fleet of just 27 ambulances, an archaic wireless system, disinterested staff and a response time that sometimes ran over an hour had defeated the very purpose for which the specialised service had been instituted.
All that has changed now. Thanks largely to the efforts of Srivatsa Krishna, an IAS officer, who took upon himself to revive the services after he took over as project administrator. The CATS team now takes less than 10 minutes to reach the accident site, with its fleet of support ambulances, complete with paramedics and life-saving devices. And since the response time is crucial, Krishna is concentrating on ensuring that it's immediate. There have been cases when CATS ambulances took an hour to reach. "So many lives were being lost because of the delay," he says.
Today, however, CATS stands transformed. From 27 ambulances parked at six points in the city, the vehicles can now be seen at 22 different points in the city, all chosen after prolonged deliberation and a careful analysis of traffic patterns and distress calls.
Within the next three months, CATS hopes to add another 30 state-of-the-art ambulances to its fleet, thanks to aid from the Japanese government. Assures Delhi health minister Harsh Vardhan: "After the talk of freezing aid, I have found out that the commitment for the CATS ambulances still holds good."
Fortunately for the people of Delhi, this is just the beginning. The government is also in the process of implementing the geographical information system (GIS), a sophisticated technology for monitoring the movement of CATS ambulances by the control room. A move is also afoot to integrate the services with the Delhi Fire Service, six major hospitals and the Delhi Police Control Room. Once this is done, the CATS control room will be able to guide the ambulances away from areas of heavy traffic, to the location of the disaster site which will be pinpointed by the GIS. And since all the services will be alerted simultaneously, the response time for each will also be reduced, improving the quality of service available. In addition, the feasibility of introducing a global positioning system-based navigation pattern is in an advaced stage of implementation.
Besides, the introduction of a motorcycle team to access the congested areas is also planned. "Ultimately, we'd like to introduce a helicopter service," says Krishna.
All this because of the alarming statistics. About 1,900 road accident deaths in Delhi this year, five deaths a day—the government's annual grant remains less than Rs 2 crore for a staff of 200 paramedics and another 150 employees. Sidestepping these budgetary constraints, Krishna has managed to rope in the private sector, which has contributed both in cash and kind towards the service. Aggressively pushing the cause, he has managed to build the entire technological infrastructure for CATS with freebies from the private sector. Like the time he barged into a well-known designerwear store in south Delhi and sought help. The owner agreed, but on one condition: a hoax call would be made to the CATS control room, if the ambulance arrived within 15 minutes, Krishna could ask for anything. And get it. Sure enough, the ambulance was there in well under 10 minutes. CATS staff now sport uniforms designed by the reputed store. Provided free of cost.
Likewise, Krishna sought an appointment with Vikram Lal, promoter of the Eicher group of companies. After considerable persuasion, Lal offered a free gift worth over Rs 3 lakh—the digitised map of Delhi. Developed in partnership with Risk Management Solutions India (RMSI) Limited, it is now proving to be of invaluable help for the GIS system being implemented by CATS.
Says Ajay Lavkare of RMSI: "An Australian company, MapInfo, donated the basic software and we have customised it to suit the needs of CATS." All one has to do now is to key in the name of the colony from where the distress call originates at the control room computer monitor and he can trace the nearest CATS ambulance. Within seconds, the software outlines the shortest route to the destination which the control room conveys to the vehicle and enables it to reach the site of the incident.
What has also helped is the top-of-the-line communication system provided by Procall, a radio trunking service providing company promoted by Motorola and Punjab Wireless. A few days of hard work and Krishna managed to convince Procall to give 25 handsets free against a purchase of 25. The company was only too willing to oblige.
But what of the ordinary public wanting to call the service? Enter RPG Paging, who designated a special number for the public—9632-001099. Dial the number and leave a short message about any accident. The message will be relayed instantly to the CATS control room and prompt action taken. An exclusive paging data receiver provided for the CATS control room ensures smooth operations. Says Devraj Malhotra of RPG Paging: "Krishna had approached us and this was for a social cause. That is our commitment." In addition, RPG advertises CATS to its subscribers. For free, of course.
THE efforts are certainly paying of. From an average of 600 calls a month till January this year, the control room now receives nearly 1,500 calls. If nothing else, this manifests the trust reposed in CATS by the people. "If you call 102 (ambulance), they sometimes call us in turn," says a paramedic. And it's something the 200 fully trained paramedics working for CATS now wear proudly on their designer sleeves. They will soon be joined by a batch of 70 paramedics. Despite the rigorous schedule—that sometimes stretches to 12 hours a day.
A fact that did not escape the attention of the director of the London Ambulance Service when he visited India recently. Impressed by the improvement in CATS' services, the organisations have now decided to share their experiences. "Two paramedics will now visit London to learn how things are done there," says Vardhan.
That, however, is not the end. Efforts continue to reduce response time to nine minutes, the internationally accepted standard. Reducing the response time in turn has a bearing on the quality of the service. Hitherto, the CATS chief, designated project administrator, was an additional charge resting with the joint secretary (health) in the Delhi government. But Krishna made it his obsession when he took over a year ago. Says an official: "Before him, only one of the 13 officers posted here had sat in that room. There used to be a human skeleton hanging in that corner." Catching the surprise on your face, he hastens to add: "For training only."