1. 20
CEMEx 2011:
Chennai Emergency
Management Exercise
Abstract:
CEMEx 2011, which was a result of a multi-institutional public-private partnership designed
to harness the strengths and capabilities of regional emergency responders, educational
institutions, hospitals, humanitarian agencies and state agencies as they prepare to confront
urbancatastrophes,focusedonhumanitarianandmedicalresponse.
Its unique feature was to incorporate capacity building that included table top planning
exercises related to skill sets needed for large scale of operation in emergency management.
This article discusses the events of CEMEx and the learning from the mock-drill for better
understandingofthecomplexissues ofdisastermanagementandlessons learntfromthem.
KeyWords: EmergencyManagementExercise,DisasterPreparedness,DisasterDrill
TheGenesisofCEMEx2011
This initiative was planned by the “SRMC Emergency Physicians Alumni Association”
(SEPAA), in partnership with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA),
Government of India along with technical support from the United Nations Disaster
Management Team (UNDMT),
India, Government of Tamil Nadu,
the Chennai City Corporation and
otherstateagencies.
The academic activities of the
exercise were conducted at Sri
Ramachandra University (SRU),
Chennai and also at some leading
Chennai based government and
private hospitals and institutions
like Sri Ramachandra Medical
College & Research Institute, Rajiv
Gandhi General Hospital, Kilpauk
Medical College & Hospital,
Stanley Medical College, Apollo Group of Hospitals, Sundaram Medical Foundation, Dr.
Mehta's Hospital and the state government's PPP partner for EMS, GVK EMRI 108
AmbulanceServicesandmanyotherinstitutes.
TheEvent
th th
CEMEx was held from 4 to 8 of August 2011. The event was managed by Divitha
LeoVijai, MSc (N) who was also a National Faculty for the Emergency Nursing track and
Prof TV Ramakrishnan, Head of Department ofAccident & Emergency Medicine at SRU
(he also was the Track Leader for Comprehensive Trauma Life Support), both of whom
were guided by Prof S Rangaswami,Vice Chancellor of SRU. More than a 100 support staff
from various departments of the university ranging from associate professors to students
were provided by the authorities; the students played various roles - co-ordinators, trouble-
shootersandvolunteers,allcontributingtoaseamlessorganisationoftheexercise.
CEMEx was a rigorous 5 day long event. A total of 54 national faculties from various
organisations like NDMA, National Civil Defence College, Nagpur, All India Disaster
M i t i g a t i o n I n s t i t u t e ,
Ahmedabad, Red R India, Pune,
College of Nursing CMC,
Vellore, ITACCS Society, SRU,
GVK EMRI and Indian Institute
of Emergency Medical Services
(IIEMS), Kottayam imparted
training to 980 odd participants
with heterogeneous professional
backgrounds from Southern
India. Thirteen different parallel
tracks were conducted during
CEMEx 2011.
P a r t i c i p a n t s i n c l u d e d
corporation officials and
administrators, police, fire
services, coast guards, NDRF,
school teachers and head
masters, college professors,
NGO representatives, social
workers, engineers, college
students, industrial safety
officers and administrators,
doctors, nurses, paramedics
from government and private
medical colleges and hospitals
andrailwayhospital.
Ten international faculties,
Robert Bristow, Heidie Cordii
and Raymond Cordii from New
York Presbyterian Hospital,
Dario Gonzales, Medical
Director of New York Fire
Department, George Abraham,
Robert McLafferty, Richard
W Lippert and Verne E. Smith
from Pennsylvania and Anne E
Ryan and Denise Eggert from
New York devoted their time
contributing towards the training
of participants during CEMEx
2011.
The inaugural ceremony held on
th
the 4 August 2011 at 5.00 PM at
the SRU Main Auditorium was
presided over by Sashidhar
Reddy, Hon’ble Vice Chairman,
NDMA who in his inaugural
address stated that “NDMA is
very happy to associate itself
with Emergency Management
Exercise in Chennai. The people
of Chennai and Tamil Nadu will
see the kind of efforts made
through this exercise, to raise
public awareness, to look at our
capabilities and
He added that “It should
not be a one off kind of exercise.
identify the
gaps”.
21
The NDMA needs to carry this forward. The states will have to play an important role, so also
theurban localbodieslikeChennaiinCEMEx2011.”
He further pointed out that “the World Bank and the UN have stated that 1 dollar invested in
mitigation will save 20 dollars” and that “in 5 years India will have World Class
preparednesstomeettheChallenges.”
TheCapacityBuildingPrograms
During the first 3 ½ days, CEMEx 2011
focused on 13 parallel tracks for skill
enhancement in basic areas to bring
awareness about disaster management.
Areas like disaster preparedness, EMS,
trauma management, nursing care,
triage in the field and within hospitals,
disaster management and responses that
require co-ordinated efforts and
continuous honing of skills were
stressed upon. All training programs
focussed on didactic lectures and
capacity building through fire, slum and HAZMAT drills, skill stations, innovative
interactive programs, group discussions, hands on experience through SIM Man (simulated
manikins),etc.
th th
Emergency Medical Services was conducted from the 4 to 7 of August 2011 and was
carefully designed to give the First Responders, EMT's or Paramedics, the confidence, skills
and knowledge needed to provide the highest level of immediate care in a disaster setting.
These included basic but critical skills of CPR, log-rolling and extrication. Participants also
learnt the theory and physiological basis of life support, early trauma management and triage
through certified International Trauma Life Support (ITLS) for pre-hospital care providers
during the first 2 days of training; the remaining days were devoted to disaster management
principlesandEMS responseduringdisaster,tabletopexerciseanddisasterdrill.
The 175 participants consisted of EMTs, Emergency Trauma and Critical care Technician's
(ETCT), Paramedics etc. Twenty-four faculties of New York Presbyterian Hospital, GVK
EMRI108AmbulanceServices,ChennaiandIIEMS conductedthiscourse.
th
ITLS ACCESS Course was conducted on 7 August 2011. ITLS ACCESS provided EMS
crews, pilots and first responders the training they need to reach, stabilize and extricate
trapped patients. The 8 hour course was built around the concept of using hand tools
commonly carried in ambulances or first responder units. Pre and post tests were conducted
forITLSACCESS providercertification.
Fifty pilots, ambulance drivers, paramedics and emergency physicians took part in this
program. Four faculties of
ITLS ACCESS and IIEMS
conductedthiscourse.
Emergency Nursing Care
th
was conducted from the 4 to
th
7 ofAugust 2011. This course
was carefully designed to give
the nursing staff working in
the ED, the confidence, skills
and knowledge they need to
provide the highest level of
immediate care in a disaster
setting in the Emergency
Department. They also had
hands on training on
management of trauma
The Chennai Emergency Management Exercise
2011 (CEMEx 2011) was the 'Brainchild' of the
authors of this paper - Srihari Cattamanchi,
Emergency Physician, Disaster Medicine Research
Fellow, Harvard Affiliated Disaster Medicine
Fellowship, Harvard Medical School, and
Nishanth Hiremath, Consultant, Dept. of
Emergency Medicine, Columbia Asia Hospital,
Bangalore. Both attended the Mumbai Emergency
Management Exercise – MEMEx II, in December
2010 and were inspired to take up the challenge of
creatingCEMEx2011.
p a t i e n t s o n S I M M A N
(Simulated Manikin) as part of
theirpracticalskillstations.
In all 101 participants from
Government and private
institutes, railway hospitals
working in the emergency and
critical care areas and those
working in quality and safety
control sectors took part in this
training. Eight faculties from
NewYork Presbyterian Hospital,
College of Nursing, CMC
Vellore and TACT Academy of
Chennaiconductedthiscourse.
The Hospital Emergency
Management program was
aimed at improving the ability of
hospital management to organize
intra-hospital care during mass
casualty events. While EMS and
other first responders provide
initial trauma care in the disaster
settings, hospital is the ultimate
destination for majority of
survivors. With considerations
of surge capacity and local
physical conditions and
resources available at the
forefront, the participants learnt
to develop unique plans to
coordinate the delivery of care at
all levels and effectively assess
andmobilizehospitalresources.
Around 128 doctors, nurses,
hospital administrators, hospital
management students amongst
others benefitted from this
program. Four faculties from
New York Presbyterian Hospital
conductedthiscourse.
Comprehensive Trauma Life
Support was conducted for 2
th
days starting on the 5 of August
2011. CTLS
participating doctor
was shown how to assess,
resuscitate and deliver initial
care in a systematic algorithmic
manner to patients with major
trauma. Pre and post tests were
conducted and CTLS provider
certificateswereissued.
is an initiative of
ITACCS India, supported by
International Trauma Care. This
course had case presentations,
evidence based discussions and
skill stations in a very interactive
style. Each
A Class on Hospital Emergency Management

2. 2322
All the 120 participants were
drawn from amongst casualty
medical officers, anaesthetists,
orthopedicians, surgeons,
emergency medical officers,
interns and nurses. Twelve
faculties from International
Trauma Anaesthesia & Critical
Care Society (ITACCS), Indian
Chapter and SEPAA conducted
thiscourse.
Basic & Advanced Disaster Life
Support track was a 3 day affair
th
ending on the 6 ofAugust 2011.
The course offered a more
advanced practicum for those
individuals who respond to disasters. This intensive course trained participants in mass
casualty decontamination, use of personal protective equipment, essential skills and mass
casualty incident information systems and technology applications. Using simulated all-
hazards scenarios, interactive sessions and drills with high-fidelity manikins and volunteer
patients,thecoursecreatedatrue-to-life,practicalexperienceintreatmentandresponse.
The program conducted at CEMEx was on the lines of an ideal course and included both
classroom instruction and hands-on training. Pre and post tests were conducted and
American MedicalAssociation (AMA) BDLS andADLS provider certificates were given to
participants.
Sixty-twoemergencyphysiciansparticipatedinthisprogram.
It was a milestone in Disaster Medicine in India. The success of the course has emboldened
SEPAAandIIEMS todevelopapoolofnationalfacultiestoconductfuturecoursesinIndia.
Humanitarian Response Track focusing on public health was held over 4 days, one of the
longer tracks of CEMEx 2011. Emphasis was laid on interaction of hazards and
vulnerability (material, organizational, attitudinal), SOPs and approaches for disaster
response, public health approach to disaster management, application of minimum
standards, Sphere & INEE, public health promotion and mass communication and
interagencycoordination.
Forty-seven participants consisting of social workers, NGO representatives, community
nurses, engineers, school and college teachers and students pursuing subjects as varied as arts
and management and medical and dental college students. Four faculties from RED R India,
Puneconductedthiscourse.
th
A slum drill was conducted on the 7 in Dhidir Nagar, Saidapet, Chennai where the
participants had to survey the slum, identify potential hazards that can precipitate
disasters, find solutions and educate the slum dwellers on how to overcome the adverse
situations facing them; this was followed by a small rally to reach out to those who did not
attendtheprogram.
Itwas agoodlearningexperienceforallthe47participantsandtheyhadawonderfultime.
The First Responder Course was conducted as a 2 day event. In this, 114 participants from
the Civil Defence, Police, Fire Service, Security Personnel, Red Cross, St. John'sAmbulance
Personnel, Coast Guards, etc. took part. Four faculties from RED R India conducted this
course.
th th
The Public Health Assessment Track was held on the 5 & 6 of August 2011. This course
was designed for senior level public health practitioners, community medicine post
graduates and disaster management personnel for imparting the skills needed to evaluate
disaster response systems. The course included an overview of various components of
disaster response and practical
tools to evaluate these
components.
Sixty-one participants, (public
health personnel, community
medicine doctors, nurses,
emergency physicians amongst
others) sat through the 2 day
track conducted by 4 faculties
from New York Presbyterian
Hospital.
The Communication Workshop
focused on aspects of inter-
agency communication during
d i s a s t e r s m a n a g e m e n t ,
importance of effective
communication with the media
and global advancement in
communicationtechnology.
The 39 participants who took
part in this very important
workshop came from varied
stakeholder agencies like
revenue department, municipal
corporation, police, fire service,
EMS and hospitals. This course
again was conducted by New
York Presbyterian Hospital and
UNDMT.
The School Safety Centric
Disaster Preparedness program
was attended by 51 key movers
and 2000 school children. This
was a 2 day course that focused
on school disaster preparedness,
child safety and preparedness
audits. Following the course,
th
there was a fire drill on 5 of
August 2011 at the Corporation
High School, Thiruvanmiyur,
Chennai by the Chennai Fire
Service, where 2000 school
children were taught fire safety,
evacuation protocols during fire,
first aid and methodology of
removal of victims from the site
ofinjury,etc.
The 51 key movers were
participants from government
and private schools; the
significant key of the exercise
was the profile of these
participants. They were
principals and head mistresses
and senior school teachers. This
was an attempt to institutionalise
school safety and disaster
preparedness in schools. Four faculties of the All India Disaster Mitigation Institute
(AIDMI),Ahmedabadconductedthecourse.
th
A separate track on Higher Education Disaster Preparedness was held on the 6 August
2011, which targeted college superintendents and administrators, NSS and NCC Division
Heads; they were sensitised on issues related to disaster preparedness, students' safety and
variousaspectsofdisasterresponseandmanagement.
The31participantsweretrainedby4facultiesfromtheAIDMI,Ahmedabad.
The last of the tracks was on Industrial & Chemical Disaster Preparedness and was
th th
attended by 30 trainees on the 5 and 6 ofAugust 2011. Considering the fact that Chennai city
is surrounded by more than 100 hazardous chemical industries, any disaster would cause
immense damage to life and property. Hence, a special 2 day course on disaster preparedness
and safety audits for industries was conducted. This course targeted at administrators,
industrial safety officers, hospital safety officers, EMS administrators and industrial doctors
ofvariousindustriesinSuburbanChennai.
This course was conducted by National Civil Defence College (NCDC), Nagpur. A special
HAZMAT drill was conducted during this course at SRU by NCDC assisted by the Chennai
th
FireServiceonthe6 ofAugust 2011.
TheTableTop Exercise
Table top exercises are always an important component of any Emergency Management
Exercise.
th
On 7 August 2011 at 2.00 PM, a table-top exercise was conducted at the MainAuditorium of
SRU by Robert Bristow, Dario Gonzales and Srihari Cattamanchi, in which 600 participants
took part. All participants, especially team leaders from various collaborating local agencies
met to practice simulated scenarios to identify roadblocks in communication and execution
withafocusonthedrillscheduledforthefollowingday.
It also brought together leaders of Chennai's response agencies: Fire, Police, NDRF and
EMS, along with heads of hospitals, doctors, nurses, non-governmental organizations to walk
through a simulateddisaster, step by step.As the scenario unfolded, the facilitatorstopped and
asked each sub-group to propose their response strategy.This exercise revealed the strengths
and gaps in inter-agency communication and discrepancies and overlapped response
planningamongthevariousstakeholders.
DisasterDrill
th
On the 8 ofAugust 2011, a major incident was simulated and a controlled drill was conducted
at the Pattinapakkam Corporation ground on South Canal Road, Chennai. A scenario was
enacted, that of a wall collapse during a football match leading to stampede causing multiple
casualty incident. This scenario was, created and executed by Nishanth Hiremath and Srihari
Cattamanchi along with SEPAAand the faculties from NewYork. This simulated exercise was
carried out in co-ordination with Chennai City Corporation, Chennai Police Services, Chennai
District Fire Service, NDRF, NDMA, UNDMT and 200 junior artists and 20 make up men
from Film Employees Federation,
Chennai. A total of 700 participants
directly benefitted from this simulated
exercise.
Incident Command: This brought
together all the major responders, testing
real-time inter-agency communication
and coordination at all levels of these
organizations, especially the Incident
Command Structure within Chennai City
Corporation limits at the Disaster Cell in
Chennai Police Commissioner's office
and its various agencies,
National Disaster Response
force, the private sector and
citizengroups.
This drill also pushed the
medical response system into
handling extreme scenarios and
compelled the physicians and
m e d i c a l s t a f f o f b o t h
government and private
hospitals involved in the disaster
drill to prioritize care to
maximise the saving of life and
limb under duress. The Public
Health Assessment participants,
who were trained in monitoring
and evaluating disaster drills
u s i n g s t a t e - o f - t h e - a r t
international tools, lent us
s i g n i f i c a n t s u p p o r t i n
conducting the drill by providing
feedback on it to help us organise
better drills in future and make
our disaster response system
better prepared.
HotWash: The term “Hot wash”
or “AfterAction Meet” refers to
a short discussion about the drill
immediately after it gets over.
The highlight of a Hot Wash is
that every organisation that
participated in the drill would
come forward to describe/make
constructive criticisms about the
whole event. This enables every
participant to run through the
event again and opens a forum
for them to clarify their doubts
with the experts. CEMEx 2011
Mock Drill concluded with a 2
hour “Hot Wash” at 4.00 pm,
which was conducted in the Main
Auditorium of SRU. Various
groups of experts expressed their
views about the event, areas of
difficulties were discussed and
solutions were reached. The drill
evaluators from each hospital
presented their views about how
their hospitals were prepared to
managethemasscausalities.
Learning from Disaster Drill
during CEMEx2011
There were numerous lessons
learnt from CEMEx 2011; there
were different dimensions to the
learning in this event. It
sounded very easy, well

3. 2524
planned, all in control and all groups felt prepared while analysing and discussing the
eventatthetabletop.
However,therealitywas verydifferent!
On the day of the event it did not seem so; it took a lot of time to grasp the situation and
respond.As the mock drill began, the command centre setup at the Police Commissioner's
office along with 7 participating agencies were in control of the situation, updating all the
participatingagencies.
But at the incident site different participating agencies had different incident commanders,
different objectives and different plans, acting initially on their own, with no unified
command system, action plan and response. There was improper communication from the
incident command centre to the participating hospitals. Many gaps were identified in inter
agencyco-ordination.Therewas noonsiteincidentcommandcentre.
As soon as the NDRF arrived, they started announcing” all those who can walk, please walk
out of the scene.” This caused many victims with broken legs walking over to green area
giving rise to improper triaging. These victims were re-triaged and transferred to their
appropriate area by EMS personnel. This also resulted in some of the mock drill victims
leavingthescenegivingrisetoun-accountabilityissues.
After the bomb squad arrived and announced “safe zone”, the EMS commander took charge
of the triaging. He, along with the incident commander and the organisers were able to sort
out the initial glitches, which existed, discussing with all the participating agencies on the
ground.
Agood, systematic information system was set up by the EMS commander who kept a record
of how many victims were transported to
each of the hospitals, to ensure equal
distribution of causalities. Each hospital
was called and informed as soon as the
ambulance was dispatched. Even with
such preparations on the field there was
some disparity in the distribution of
victims to the hospitals. Some had
received 60 patients and one didn't
receive any patient at all. This was again a
learning experience to enable us to have
the maximum utilization of our resources
atthehospitals.
As the ambulances were on the road, the
Chennai traffic police did an excellent job
managing the traffic and making way for the ambulance to reach the hospitals on time. It was
a well co-ordinated effort. As the causalities reached the hospitals, teams awaited at
entrances to receive and manage the causalities. The hospital staff were well prepared and
managed to run the show smoothly.They were able to deliver as per plans. Atotal of 60 mock
drillvictimswereunaccountedfor,givingrisetoserioussecurityandaccountabilityissues.
Thegreatestlearningfromthisdrillwasthateverycityneedsa disasterplan,notonlyonpaper
but on ground also. Hence, it is essentialto have periodic drills not only in order to be ready to
facedisastersbutalsotoeffectivelyandefficientlyutilizetheresourcesthatwehave.
ValedictoryCeremony
The Valedictory Ceremony of CEMEx 2011 was held immediately after the “Hot Wash” at
5.00 PM. MuzzafarAhmed, Hon’ble Member of National Disaster ManagementAuthority
was theChiefGuestforthisceremony.
Delivering the valedictory address, he stated that CEMEx 2011 has been a great success.
According to him, “the vision of NDMA along with UNDMT in CEMEx 2011 was to have a
leadership with reference to risk
resilience in the urban cities in
India, which are most vulnerable
and most multi hazard prone.
CEMExachievedthatgoal.”
He expressed his happiness
about the way various tracks
were organised and voiced his
satisfaction that CEMEx 2011
was able to create a resource of
1000 people. “CEMEx has
added 1000 people to the
resource database of Tamil
Nadu and this resource pool will
be helpful for the disaster
p re v e n t i o n , m i t i g a t i o n ,
preparedness and response.
CEMEx has truly exhibited the
spirit of multi stakeholder
partnership in collaboration
with NDMA, UNDMT and
SEPAA.”
Prof. Mahesh Mishra of JPN
ApexTrauma Centre, New Delhi
and Sanjeev Bhoi, Associate
Professor, Dept. of Accident &
Emergency Medicine, AIIMS,
New Delhi, were present during
the table top exercise, disaster
drill and hot wash as observers
from Government of India with
the aim to evaluate and conclude
the feasibility and utility of
replicating similar training
exercises all over India by
NDMAinnearfuture.
Lessons ofCEMEx
Strengths
l One of the biggest disaster
preparedness training
programs conducted in the
country
l Thirteen academic activities
were targeted at various
stakeholdersofthesociety
l Multi-institutional PPP with
active participation of
NDMA for the first time in
s u c h e m e r g e n c y
managementexercise
l Active participation from
different State Government
a n d C h e n n a i C i t y
Corporation institutions in
theacademicactivities
l A total of 600 people
attended the tabletop
exercise making it one of the largest table top exercises conducted in the history of the
countryinformulating anurbancentredisasterpreparednessplan
l 2000 school children and 50 school headmasters / headmistress were taught about school
firesafetyandschoolevacuationduringfire
l Created awareness amongst the officials of the municipal corporation and encouraged
theminpreparingamultihazarddisasterplanforcityofChennai
l Helped all the participating private hospitals to create a robust disaster preparedness plan
or revising the existing disaster plan, testing the respective plans through individual drills
and table top exercises, updating and executing them during the combined city wide
disasterdrill
l The disaster drill identified various loop holes in the disaster preparedness of the city of
Chennai, giving the administrators the chance to rectify them and be better prepared for
futuredisasters
l Created awareness amongst the first responders of various public and private agencies
and encouraged them to improve their inter agency coordination, which is of great
importanceduringdisasterresponse.
l Also created awareness about the need of frequent multi-institutional public private
disaster drills in the near future in order to make a more resilient Chennai, one that is
betterpreparedto managedisasters
l Pool of Resources: A pool of 980 resource personnel has been created, a pool that can be
activated at a short notice in the event of a multi-casualty incident. Data base of all
resource personnel comprising of their contact details and their competencies and skill
sets developed has been submitted by CEMEx 2011 organisers to the State Disaster
Management Authority (SDMA) and the NDMA. In future urban catastrophes or
disasters, resource personnel from the above database can be called on to serve and
respondtodisasters
l Future Plan: A detailed report of CEMEx 2011 based on the deliberations that took place
during the 3 ½ days of training program, tabletop exercise, disaster drill and “Hot Wash”,
along with recommendations will be submitted to the NDMA based on which a NEEDS
ASSESSMENT Workshop will be conducted by NDMA, UNDMT and SEPAA along
with the Government ofTamil Nadu, SDMA, Chennai City Corporation and Disaster Cell
atChennaiPoliceCommissioner'sOffice
Weaknesses (wheredifficultieswereencountered)
l AbsenceofeffectiveincidentcommandsystemandICS protocols
l Different agencies had different objectives and different plans during the disaster drill,
eventhoughtheyweredebriefedbeforethedrill
l Absenceofinteragencycoordination
l Poor communicationfromincidentcommandcentretogovtandprivatehospitals
l Lack of disaster response training and common standards and guidelines for disaster
responseamongvariousresponseagencies.
l Inadequatefacilitiesatthedrillsiteforthedisasterresponderssafetyandneeds
Dr Srihari Cattamanchi,
The Author is Disaster Medicine Research Fellow,
Harvard Affiliated Disaster Medicine Fellowship,
Division of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School,
Department of Emergency Medicine, Beth Deaconess Medical Centre
Co-authored by
Dr Nishanth Hiremath,
Accident & Emergency Medicine,
Consultant, Department of Emergency Medicine, Columbia Asia Hospital
EMS in Maharashtra
EMS of Maharashtra state,
first talked about 5 years back
after the serial blasts in 2006
and marked by incessant
delays and controversies since
then, seems to be finally on
track. The proposal was
cleared by the cabinet on
October15, 2008.
Maharashtra Emergency
Medical Services (MEMS)
will have a 24x7 call centre
and a fleet of 937 life support
ambulances to cater to the
emergency medical needs of
t h e r u r a l a n d u r b a n
population. The system will
have 374 ambulances in the
first phase, 373 in the second
phase and 190 in the third
phase.
The Government unlike other
states has not just asked for
ambulances but an entire
traumamanagementsystem.
The helpline will be a toll free
number accessible from
l a n d l i n e o r m o b i l e .
Emergency help will reach on
an average in 18 minutes,
according to the State Health
Minister,Suresh Shetty.
Initially, only the highways
will be covered. The service
will be extended to districts in
the next phase and then
talukaswillbeencompassed.
The state government has now
roped in experts from AIIMS
to provide technical support in
the planning and design of the
ambulances it proposes to roll
outundertheNHRM.
According to Suresh Shetty,
“since the 1,000 odd
ambulances will be deployed
across the state, including
remote areas, we did not want
to leave any lacunae in the
d e s i g n a n d t e c h n i c a l
viability”.
Like other states, 108 will be
thecommonaccessnumber.
Disaster Management Drill