Uttar Pradesh has been the leader in ambulance response time for the past several years with the current response time being 7.30 minutes.
Health experts say that timely emergency access to healthcare facilities can save many a life. Addressing this critical issue, the Yogi Government in the state has significantly improved the response time of its 108 Ambulance Services. In 2016-17, it was 16.52 minutes. Now, it has been reduced to just 7.30 minutes.
Director of the National Health Mission, Dr. Pinky Jowal, said here on Friday, “Upon taking office, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath initiated significant reforms to strengthen the state’s health services. One key focus was reducing the response time of the 108 Ambulance Service to ensure that critically ill patients could reach hospitals promptly and receive life-saving care.”
She added, “Due to his strategic vision and diligent oversight, the response time for the 108 ambulance service has improved remarkably, decreasing from 16 minutes and 52 seconds in 2016-17 to just 7 minutes and 30 seconds today. This improvement was achieved over time but resulted from sustained efforts over the past seven years.”
In 2019, Yogi replaced 662 outdated ambulances with vehicles equipped with modern medical technology and added 712 new ambulances to the fleet. Currently, the state operates 2,200 ambulances under the 108 service, assisting an average of 16,703 patients daily.
Parag Pandey, general manager of the National Health Mission, credited the chief minister for the efforts to reduce ambulance response times in the state consistently.
In 2017-18, the response time for the 108 Ambulance Service was 13.23 minutes, which slightly increased to 14.46 minutes in 2018-19. The response time further rose to 17. 28 minutes in 2019-20 and 18.7 minutes in 2020-21 mainly due to the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
However, significant improvements were made in the following years, reducing the response time to 8.46 minutes in 2022-23 and 7.24 minutes in 2023-24. The current response time is 7.30 minutes.
Despite being the most populous state with 257.4 million residents, Uttar Pradesh leads the nation in the lowest ambulance response time. Rajasthan follows with a response time of 7. 57 minutes, and Kerala ranks third at 10.45 minutes.
Jharkhand’s response time is the worst at 16:02 minutes. Next comes Arunachal Pradesh, where the response time is 15:01 minutes, and Delhi’s is 13:31 minutes.