Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T10:03:02.002Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Emergency Medical Services in India: The Present and Future

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2014

Mohit Sharma  and
Ethan S. Brandler
Mohit Sharma*
Affiliation:
SUNY Downstate Medical Center and Kings County Hospital Center, Brooklyn, New York USA
Ethan S. Brandler
Affiliation:
SUNY Downstate Medical Center and Kings County Hospital Center, Brooklyn, New York USA
*
Correspondence: Mohit Sharma, MBBS Department of Neurology SUNY Downstate Medical Center and Kings County Hospital Center 450 Clarkson Avenue, Box 1228 Brooklyn, NY, 11203-2098 USA E-mail [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

India is the second most populous country in the world. Currently, India does not have a centralized body which provides guidelines for training and operation of Emergency Medical Services (EMS). Emergency Medical Services are fragmented and not accessible throughout the country. Most people do not know the number to call in case of an emergency; services such as Dial 108/102/1298 Ambulances, Centralized Accident and Trauma Service (CATS), and private ambulance models exist with wide variability in their dispatch and transport capabilities. Variability also exists in EMS education standards with the recent establishment of courses like Emergency Medical Technician-Basic/Advanced, Paramedic, Prehospital Trauma Technician, Diploma Trauma Technician, and Postgraduate Diploma in EMS. This report highlights recommendations that have been put forth to help optimize the Indian prehospital emergency care system, including regionalization of EMS, better training opportunities, budgetary provisions, and improving awareness among the general community. The importance of public and private partnerships in implementing an organized prehospital care system in India discussed in the report may be a reasonable solution for improved EMS in other developing countries.

Sharma M, Brandler ES. Emergency Medical Services in India: The Present and Future. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2014;29(3):1-4 .

Keywords

curriculum standardsEmergency Medical ServicesIndiaparamedicprehospital
Type
Special Report
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 29 , Issue 3 , June 2014 , pp. 307 - 310
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Gross domestic product 2012, PPP. The World Bank website. http://databank.worldbank.org/data/download/GDP_PPP.pdf. Accessed July 5, 2013.Google Scholar
2. World Development Indicators database. The World Bank website. http://databank.worldbank.org/data/home.aspx. Accessed July 5, 2013.Google Scholar
3. India statistics summary. World Health Organization website. http://apps.who.int/gho/data/view.country. Accessed July 5, 2013.Google Scholar
4. Country Cooperation Strategy Briefs. World Health Organization website. http://www.who.int/countryfocus/cooperation_strategy/ccsbrief_ind_en.pdf. Accessed March 6, 2014.Google Scholar
5. Colohan, AR, Alves, WM, Gross, CR, et al. Head injury mortality in two centres with different emergency medical services and intensive care. J Neurosurg. 1989;71(2):202-207.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6. Pandian, JD, et al. Factors delaying admission to a hospital-based stroke unit in India. J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis. 2006;15(3):81-87.Google Scholar
7. Fitzgerald, M, Dewan, Y, O'Reilly, G, Mathew, J, McKenna, C. India and the management of road crashes: towards a national trauma system. Indian J Surg. 2006;68(4):226-232.Google Scholar
8. Ramanujam, P, Aschkenasy, M. Identifying the need for prehospital and emergency care in the developing world: case study in Chennai, India. J Assoc Physicians India. 2007;55:491-495.Google ScholarPubMed
9. Report of the National Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, Government of India. World Health Organization website. http://www.who.int/macrohealth/en/. Accessed July 5, 2013.Google Scholar
10. India-New Global Poverty Estimates. The World Bank website. http://povertydata.worldbank.org/poverty/country/IND. Accessed July 5, 2013.Google Scholar
11. 108 Ambulance Service Project, National Rural Health Mission, State Government of Rajasthan, India.Google Scholar
12. Centralized Accident and Trauma Services website. http://delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/connect/doit_cats/CATS/Home/About+CATS. Accessed March 6, 2014.Google Scholar
13. Statistics. Indian Nursing Council website. http://www.indiannursingcouncil.org/Statistics.asp. Accessed March 6, 2014.Google Scholar
14. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Emergency Medical Services website. http://www.ems.gov/index.htm. Accessed July 5, 2013.Google Scholar
15. Guidelines for Field Triage of Injured Patients. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/rr/rr6101.pdf. Accessed November 13, 2013.Google Scholar
16. O'Gara, PT, Kushner, FG, Ascheim, DD, et al. 2013 ACCF/AHA guideline for the management of ST-elevation myocardial infarction: executive summary: a report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association Task Force on practice guidelines. Circulation. 2013;127(4):529-555.Google Scholar
17. Adams, HP Jr., del Zoppo, G, Alberts, MJ, et al. Guidelines for the early management of adults with ischemic stroke. Stroke. 2007;38(5):1655-1711.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
18. Arreola-Risa, C, Mock, CN, Lojero-Wheatly, L, et al. Low-cost improvements in prehospital trauma care in a Latin American city. J Trauma. 2000;48(1):119-124.Google Scholar
19. Health financing: Health expenditure ratios by country, 2011. World Health Organization website. http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main.75?lang=en. Accessed on July 5, 2013.Google Scholar
20. Health expenditure, total (% of GDP). The World Bank website. http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.XPD.TOTL.ZS. Accessed on July 5, 2013.Google Scholar
21. Report of the Working Group on National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) for the Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-2017). Planning Commission, Government of India website. http://planningcommission.nic.in/aboutus/committee/wrkgrp12/health/WG_1NRHM.pdf. Accessed July 5, 2013.Google Scholar
22. Constructional and Functional Requirements for Road Ambulances. The Automotive Research Association of India website. https://araiindia.com/hmr/Control/AIS/614201353235PMAIS_125.pdf. Accessed March 6, 2014.Google Scholar
23. Malhotra, S, Gupta, M, Chandra, KK, et al. Prehospital delay in patients hospitalized with acute myocardial infarction in the emergency unit of a North Indian tertiary care hospital. Indian Heart J. 2003;55(4):349-353.Google Scholar
24. Pandian, J, Kalra, G, Jaison, A, et al. Knowledge of stroke among stroke patients and their relatives in Northwest India. Neurol India. 2006;54(2):152-156.Google ScholarPubMed