SHILLONG: The Health and Family Welfare Minister, A L Hek informed the state Assembly today that there was a proposal to expand the fleet size of 108 Emergency Services by 42 more units.
He was replying to a query raised by Mawphlang MLA SK Sunn on the last day of the Autumn Session on Thursday.
In his reply, he said that the government in partnership with GVK EMRI ( the implementing agency) launched the pan State Emergency Response Service (ERS)/ “Dial 108” on February 2, 2009.
“In 2009, the fleet size was 15 ambulances that were operating under PPP mode. The service was initially introduced in two districts (East Khasi Hills and West Khasi Hills) and over the period since 2009, the service has been extended to all the seven districts of the state. At present, there is a fleet of 48 ambulances in the entire state,” he said.
Hek said that the services offered were emergency care services, quality pre-hospital care and transportation of the patient to the appropriate healthcare facility.