With the launch of 13 new ‘108’ neonatal ambulances recently, Tamil Nadu now has the highest number of neonatal ambulances in the country at 66, said B. Prabhudoss, head, marketing and hospital relations, GVK EMRI, which runs the 108 emergency service.
The neonatal ambulance service, an initiative driven by the Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project and the Institute of Child Health, started in the State with two ambulances in 2011. So far, Mr. Prabhudoss said, 20,953 babies have benefited from the service.
“Sixty-six per cent of them have been brought in a critically ill state and of these, the lives of 94 per cent have been saved. We have trained technicians on these ambulances as well as state-of-the-art equipment,” he said.