Ambulances Support Fight Against Covid-19

Ambulances built on the tata Winger and Force traveler platform have been at the forefront of the fight against Covid-19 in India.

- Bhushan Mhapralkar

A Winger ambulance with a doctor and hospital staff, wearing N95 masks and protective gear each, rolls to a stop in front of singer Kanika Kapoor’s house. It has come to ferry her to the Sanjay Gandhi PGIMS hospital after testing positive for Novel Coronavirus. With a travel history to the United Kingdom, Sanika soon boards the Winger ambulance and get on her way to the hospital. Marking a drastic change in how emergency services have come to be, the Winger ambulance that carried Kapoor to the hospital is one of the roughly 2,200 ‘108’ ambulances operated by the respective state government under the National Ambulance Service (NAS). Other than Uttar Pradesh, the ‘108’ ambulance service (which can be availed for free by dialing ‘108’ to go to a government hospital) is found in several other states of India. Tracing its roots to the vision floated and carried to reality by late Dr. A.P. Ranga Rao of Andra Pradesh in response to the lack of a standardized emergency service platform making it difficult for patients to get timely help, the ’108’ ambulance service has come to overhaul the way emergency services are provided in the country.