The functioning of 139 Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulances along with 64 Basic Life Support (BLS) ambulances in Jammu and Kashmir is being augmented that represents a significant and major advance in the health care set-up of the region.
The initiative aims to further advance emergency medical services (EMS) in the Union Territory, through which lives can be saved, and hence facilitating access to health care services, especially in areas that are remote and underserved.
Addition of Basic and Advanced Life Support ambulances represents a welcome move that can deliver land-based critical care to persons in urgent need. The 139 ALS ambulances are equipped with advanced monitoring equipment, including ventilators, defibrillators, cardiac monitors, and advanced life-saving drugs.
In all practical ways, ALS ambulances are mobile ICUs that are trained to deliver critical care, whilst en-route. For a heart attack, stroke, or major trauma, the ALS ambulances provide direct life-saving minutes.
In contrast, while ALS ambulances respond to life-threatening emergencies, the 64 BLS ambulances appropriately respond to urgent or exacerbations of swallowing or breathing due to medical needs that do not threaten life. Such emergencies could be fractures and minor injuries or the patients traveling to receive non-critical care.
In this sense, having BLS ambulances on the road guarantees that a basic level of support is always available at time of travel, which will lessen the burden on tertiary care hospitals and improve efficiency in health care.
The provision of services honouring the farthest reaching and rural domains is laudable for other reasons as well. Having BLS ambulances provides access to emergency medical services to the residents of the farthest reaches of Jammu and Kashmir.
It is however quite important to address any potential difficulties embedded in achieving the optimal implementation of these basic and important services.
Public awareness campaigns were also used to educate the residents about the services available and how to access them when necessary.
Additionally, the government would distribute ambulances to the region fairly, with particular emphasis on those historically underserved areas. There must of course be transparency concerning the operations and accountability around the provision of services to enable trust for the public to develop in the system.
