Road accidents in the state on New Year’s Eve and Day this time multiplied by almost three and two times respectively from last year, according to GVK EMRI here on Thursday.
GVK EMRI (Emergency Management and Research Institute), a pioneer in emergency management services in the country, is a not-for-profit professional organisation operating in the public-private partnership (PPP) mode in 15 states and two Union Territories across the country. In Assam, it is operating 696 surface and nine boat ambulances in all districts. Around 4,000 staff members help operate the 108 service in the state.
Emergency calls to 108 Mrityunjoy ambulance service in cases related to road traffic accidents across the state jumped from 58 on December 31, 2018, to 165 on the same day in 2019. While calls on January 1, 2019, stood at 107, the figure jumped to 214 in 2020.
The road accident-related calls in the city and surrounding areas in Kamrup (metro) district over the two days were 33 this year, up from 12 over the same period last year. The figure for Kamrup district also jumped to 38 from 12 last time. Road accidents in Golaghat district marked a similar trend, jumping to 33 this time from only 10 last year.
Over the past two days, (Tuesday and Wednesday), the 108 Mrityunjoy emergency team attended to a total of 159 calls for assistance in Kamrup (metro) and 217 calls in Kamrup rural district, taking patients to the nearest hospital or Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) in the city in case of serious cases.
The 108 emergency services team attended to a grand total of 2,909 calls across the state in the two-day period.
Apart from accident calls, the 108 service caters to medical emergencies like abdominal pain, behavioural problems (psychiatric), breathing difficulty, cardiac issues and many others.