Vijayawada, The city's main thoroughfare set the stage for the grand rollout of 1,008 brand new ambulances as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy set out to provide emergency medical services to the nook and corner of the state. An array of 1,088 brand new ambulances was flagged off by the Chief Minister on Wednesday morning from the city's Benz Circle to Raghavaiah Park.

Flagging off the ambulance vehicles, Jagan Mohan Reddy said that the state government is introducing the 'family doctor' concept and also setting the ground for establishing digital electronic health records of all patients. The Chief Minister also announced a pay hike for the ambulance service employees.

The state government has launched the initiative with a total budget of Rs 201 crore. Equipped with the latest technology, high-end medical equipment and advanced features, the new ambulances are equipped with oxygen cylinders, ventilators, infusion pumps, syringe pumps, comfortable stretchers and can also undertake emergency childbirth procedures.

For the first time, 26 neo-natal ambulance units are being inducted into the fleet of 412 new '108' ambulances, where 104 of them are advanced life support vehicles and 282 are basic life support vehicles. In addition to these, to cater to the interior and remote villages, 676 Mobile Medical Units (MMU) of '104' emergency services are being introduced. The 26 neonatal ambulances in the fleet are equipped to shift newborns and infants to hospitals in emergency cases.

The '108' vehicles are painted in blue colour while the '104' ambulances are green in colour. The vehicles are also enabled with surveillance cameras to ensure proper health care monitoring by doctors.

The 676 Mobile Medical Units used for delivering the '104' service are also ready for launch. One vehicle will be assigned for each mandal across the state. Through these vehicles, 20 types of medical services, including all screenings for communicable and non-communicable diseases will be provided. In all, 744 doctors will be made available for these services and they will visit every village once a month to offer medical services.

An official said that the services are designed for fixed response time operations. The estimated time of arrival of these emergency vehicles to the spot from the time an emergency call is received is expected to be 15 minutes in urban areas, 20 minutes in rural areas, and 25 minutes in the Agency.

Adding to these, a new programme Dr. YSR Rahadari Bhadratha is also being linked to the 108 Services, where any road accident case will be treated free of cost in any hospital across the state for first 48 hours and up to Rs 50,000 cost. The costs will be reimbursed by Dr YSR Aarogyasri Health Care Trust.