Editor Mr.Mayank Rawat ( Chief Editor Mr. Rohit Mishra )
New Delhi: When every second is a matter of life and death, four minutes are significant. The average ambulance response time in the national capital increased by four minutes, taking it to over 17 minutes, though additional vehicles were incorporated into the existing fleet.
This detail was disclosed in Delhi Assembly on Monday, following a question raised by Sadar Bazar constituency’s AAP MLA, Som Dutt. The data revealed that ambulances operated by Delhi govt’s Centralised Accident and Trauma Services, which runs free services across the city, currently take 17.4 minutes to arrive, an increase from 13 minutes recorded in 2014. The extended response time continues though Delhi, with its population of nearly three crore, saw CATS ambulance numbers grow from 155 to 261 in the past 10 years.
Dr Kamran Farooque, head of AIIMS Trauma Centre, highlighted the crucial nature of swift emergency response. He noted that without intervention, a patient could expire within five minutes, while four minutes without a heartbeat could lead to brain death. He emphasised immediate medical attention as crucial for a trauma patient’s survival.
A CATS official, speaking confidentially to TOI, revealed that the response time had increased from nine in 1990s to 17 minutes. Delhi’s growing population and vehicle density have affected response efficiency while service outsourcing to companies offering reduced wages has created staff dissatisfaction, the official said. Currently, three companies manage the service, with varying fleet sizes, while some vehicles remain non-operational due to maintenance issues.
Several factors affect response times, including severe traffic congestion necessitating longer routes, limited ambulance availability, poor road conditions, construction work, delayed emergency call processing and increased service demand straining resources.
Comptroller and Auditor General recently reported numerous CATS ambulances operating without essential equipment. Response times from Jan to July 2020 ranged between 28 and 56 minutes, improving to 15 minutes by Sept 2022. Feb 2020 saw 49 refused calls due to staff absence, oxygen unavailability and vehicle unfitness.
The audit report stated that according to the contract with the outsourced agency, they were required to maintain 90% of the CATS ambulances operational with 100% uptime. However, CATS data reveals that during 2018-20, the agency failed to maintain this mandatory capacity, which resulted in CATS being unable to respond to all emergency calls.
CATS, established in June 1989, outsourced operations in Aug 2019.
Mayank Rawat
