theambulancetimes@gmail .com
theambulancetimes
theambulancetimes
volume
5,
issue
67, 15th M ay ’16, Pages 4
THE AMBULANCE TIMES ~Touch i ng ever yone as soci ated w it h E mergenc y Med ic a l Ser v ice s~
Page No - 4
Apple launches CareKit to create health apps A pple has launc he d a new developer tool called Carekit on Monday; which apparently would make it easier to build healthcare apps for iOS devices. The kit though supposedly, similar, in functions to Research kit; another healthcare application launched by the company last year; Carekit will however, focus on patient care. TechCrunch reports that with assistance from top medical institutions like UCSF, Johns Hopkins and Stanford School of Medicine, this health application can help people track treatment progress, and communicate it to their doctor or family.
continued to page - 2
60-year-old knocked down by ambulance Vijaywada: A 60-year-old man was killed when he was hit by a 108 ambulance at Nekkalam Gollagudem village of Agiripalli mandal on Wednesday morning. Even the paramedics in the vehicle could not save the life of man. There was no patient in vehicle and it was returning after dropping one.
continued to page - 4
Ambulance ferries heart from Pune to Mumbai in record 95 minutes, 14year-old boy saved! New Delhi: In what could be termed as an act of fearlessness, an ambulance carrying a cadaver heart from Pune managed to reach Mumbai in 1 hour and 35 minutes saving the life of a 14-year-old boy suffering from a heart condition. Authorities had to create a green corridor between the two cities to allow the heart to reach Mumbai in the stipulated time which otherwise would have taken at least three hours. The heart recipient was suffering from a heart ailment called dilated cardiomyopathy, which was deteriorating swiftly and required a transplant. As per authorities, this miraculous drive was the 17th heart transplant recorded in the city. Source: Zee news
TRADEWATCH M A RUTI EE CO INR 400000/Tempo Treveller Euro III INR 948752/Tempo Treveller Euro IV INR 1081812/Fuel Price in Delhi 50.95/ltr Diesel 62.19/ltr Petrol
Invitation Price : INR 10/-
Page No - 3
Woman Delivers Baby in Ambulance
102-108 Ambulances services make way into Primary healthcare in Uttar Pradesh
Air ambulances
More popularity in less time A National Ambulance service102, was started on Januar y 17, 2014 by the s t ate gover nment with the obje c t of r e ducing the rate of maternit y deaths-mothers and infants. The ser vice is intended for the convenience of pregnant women and children up to one year, for ferrying them from home to hospital and back, free of cost, throughout the state. Besides, women are, transported free in ambulances from tubectomy camps to their homes since September 2015 and given necessary medial aid in transit. The service is available on 102 and can be contacted free from any network. It Takes around 30 minutes,
KOLKATA: Elections in West Bengal for the 16th Assembly will kick off on Monday morning when 18 constituencies in three districts will go to the polls. In phase 1 (A) of a six-phase poll, nine seats in Purulia, six in Paschim Medinipur and three in Bankura will witness a direct contest between Trinamool Congress and a newly formed alliance of the Left and Congress. Officials of Election Commission (EC) said that of the 18 constituencies, 13 were “Maoist-affected.”The EC officials said: “At least nine paramilitary personnel will be present in every booth in the Left Wing Extremismaffected areas.” Source : The Hindu
at the maximum, for such an ambulance to reach its destination in the rural areas while the time limit is 20 minutes I urban pocketsthe service being available 24x7 in all the districts. 54 Lakh patients benefitted Total beneficiaries….54,17,920 Pregnancy related....31,33,368 Accidental injuries......4,51,988 Stomach ache………....3,38,355 Trauma cases……….....1,53,185 Emergency cases…...13,41,024
Currently, 2,268 ambulances are operating with another 300 to be included in fleet. Already, 89 lakh people have used this service. It is estimated that more than 5.5 lakh pregnant women and infants are being serviced by 102. It is a record that this service has become so popular in the villages in such a short time. Source : HT 15May es
102-108 Ambulance Service: Surely, it is a noble deed to ensure that a patient reaches the hospital in time. Started by the state government, the 102 and 108 ambulance services do this every day. People receive treatment in time through these services.
deployed in areas affected by Maoist violence
2 striking ambulance staffers take ill Bengaluru: Two ‘108’ ambulance staf f member s, Krishnappa and Shambulingiah, who were on an indefinite hunger strike at Freedom Park here, fell unconscious on Tuesday and were rushed to KC General Hospital in the city. Hundreds of ambulance staffers have been protesting since January against several “disagreeable conditions” put forth by the management. continued to page -3
Indian Medical Emergency Response System is going Digital New Delhi : A group of entrepreneur s with vast experience in the fields of medicine and technology have come together to make the Medical Emergency Response System in India more efficient and simple with the AMBER platform.The AMBER platform runs on Android and iOS along with web browser based services. AMBER helps users connect with nearby ambulance providers and hospitals, share their medical documents and details along with their location, and inform their loved ones when they face a medical emergency. AMBER also allows the user to perform all these functions on behalf of someone remotely with the AMBER Proxy FlowTM. What’s more is that all this happens within seconds, helping ambulance providers to assess the situation faster with the help of the forwarded patient details, and dispatch appropriate ambulances sooner,
continued to page - 3
THE AMBULANCE TIMES
News
Voice
Dr. SK Bhardwaj
“Technology is seeping into EMS.”
I
t was the year 1989-90 that I was working in the Moscow state ambulance services as a paramedic, to earn some extra money . I clearly remember that we were talking on the wireless with the base station that “ Yes “ patient is picked up from the location and we are on the way . We did communicate our ECG wirelessly through some mode of communication, details of which I do not remember. But it did work and before we could arrive the hospital cardiac intervention team was ready to receive us and all straight from the ambulance and all we did was to hand over the trolley with the patient to them. In Delhi with today’s 4G network of Mobile phone operators not one but more than one, we still are unable to send data of the patient in the ambulance to the hospital . No devices are available readily , nothing seems to be happening soon . Common sense says what is not needed is not discovered . But do we need these devices which can remotely collect vital medical information – like Blood pressure, Oxygen level / saturation and send them to the receiving medical facility. My personal answer is a big YES . Yes we need remote monitoring to happen soon and we are eagerly waiting for these devices to
come into the market. In the present scenario when the ambulances are getting stuck up in the traffic jam, reaching the hospital in time is almost never possible. This would be a great help. Remote monitoring has to be app based .Since we have now app based ambulance operations possible in India. We really need to work hard to integrate the monitoring from the ambulance to the base station and the possibility of the Physician intercepting the data from his mobile phones. This would improve the patient care by letting the ER know much in advance what kind of emergency is expected and the kind of resources needed for managing the same . In case of a Cadiac emergency, the same can be wheeled straight to the Cathlab by passing the ER and reducing the door to balloon time , or even managing stroke victims . Possibilities are endless – but we need to feel the need and this shall happen soon . Technically it is possible for the ambulance crew to live chat with the Doctor on the go from the ambulance in the ER . But the interphase is missing of the operator and process of the ER top receive and process such information . I am sure we are definately not far away from this !!
2 striking ambulance staffers take ill continued from page - 1
Shrishail Hallur said about 500 workers were continuing their protest. Alternative options “Some of them are sitting there at Freedom Park. A few others are looking at
alternative options of employment. We have not been getting our salaries,” he said. Hallur said the staff would again meet Health Minister U T Khader to find a solution to their problems. Source: Deccan Herald
pg
2
A biotech company is attempting to bring brain-dead patients back to life Robin Andrews, www.iflscience.com I May 3, 2016, 6:49 PM Rudrapura: A biotech company in the US has been granted ethical permission by the National Institutes of Health to use 20 brain-dead
neurological researcher and a member of the American Academy of Neurology who has written extensively on brain death, and it does appear to have proper approval from the US authorities. The team will test a combi-
patients for what is sure to be a highly controversial study: From next year, they plan to stimulate their nervous systems in order to restart the brains. Bioquark is hoping that its part in the groundbreaking ReAnimation project will reveal if people can at least partly be brought back from the dead. It is important to note that at this point, there isn’t much evidence to suggest how genuinely realistic or even serious this endeavor is; however, the panel of experts working on the initiative does include Dr. Calixto Machado, a well-known
nation of therapies on the participants, who have been medically certified as being brain dead and are only kept from decomposing by life support machines. Injecting the brain with stem cells, giving the spinal cord infusions of beneficial chemicals, and nerve stimulation techniques – which have been shown to bring people out of comas – will all be tried out. After each therapy has been administered, the team will monitor the brain activity of the participants for several months, hoping to look for signs of neurological reactivation. Their focus will be on
the upper spinal cord, which is the lowermost part of the brain stream that controls a person’s cardiorespiratory functions – breathing and a beating heart, essentially. This is presumably where the stem cells come in, which in their most primitive state can differentiate into any cell in the human body. Although there has been plenty of remarkable progress using them to regenerate damaged heart, pancreatic, eye or even brain tissue, for example, there is a long way to go before stem cells can simply be injected into humans, allowing them to regenerate any type of lost cell. In any case, the trials will begin at Anupam Hospital in Rudrapur, Uttarakhand in India. For this stage, the brain-dead people will be continuously given cocktails of peptides, chemicals that can act as neurotransmitters, along with biweekly injections of stem cells. “It is a long-term vision of ours that a full recovery in such patients is a possibility, although that is not the focus of this first study,” Pastor added. “But it is a bridge to that eventuality.” Read the original article on IFL Science. Copyright 2016. Follow IFL Science on Twitter.
Govt planning water ambulance service between Gateway, Alibaug “Will recommend stricter surrogacy laws to Centre, health minister says in Legislative Council”
MUMBAI: The state government on Friday said it is planning a water ambulance service between the Gateway of India in south Mumbai and Alibaug in neighbouring Raigad district. Replying to a debate in the Legislative Council on health-related issues raised by Shiv Sena’s Neelam Gorhe and others, Minister for Public Health Deepak Sawant said the water ambulance service has been started on trial basis in the Nar-Par river basin on Gujarat border. “The project can be replicated at Tapola Lake in Mahabaleshwar and Pranhita river bordering Andhra Pradesh,” he added. On malnutrition cases, infant mortality and deaths of pregnant Adivasi women, Mr Sawant said issues like road construction, providing a nutritious diet to children and expectant mothers are
related to departments like PWD and Tribal, Women and Child Development. He said, “(The role of) health department comes in late and (it) is (still) held accountable for deaths. In the mapping of medical equipment purchased by government in last 10 years, it has been found that nearly 15,000 such equipment were found to be inoperative,” he said. Mr Sawant announced that the government will soon
start biometric attendance for doctors and nurses in government hospitals. “Besides this, the government also intends to start a Referral Audit System for doctors in district hospitals so that they can be questioned on why cases were referred to private hospitals.” The water ambulance service has been started on trial basis in the Nar-Par river basin on the Gujarat border Source : The Hindu
News
THE AMBULANCE TIMES
Jipmer adds 6 ambulances, 2 buses Vehicles donated by SBI will be used to reach people in remote villages PUDUCHERRY: Jipmer on Tuesday augmented its fleet of vehicles for the transportation needs of patients, courtesy the State Bank of India, which donated six ambulances and two buses to the institution. The vehicles, e s timate d at R s. 88 lakh, wer e handed over to the Jipmer under the SBI’s Corporate Social Responsibility programme. B. Ramesh Babu, Chief General Manager, State Bank of India, Chennai Circle, formally donated the vehicles to the Jipmer. Dr. S.C. Parija, Jipmer Director, who dedicated the ambulances for public use, said that daily 7,000 outpatients were visiting the hospital. The new ambu-
lances would play a major role in arranging for prompt transportation of patients in chronic condition as well as accident victims. The two buses would be pressed into
service for Jipmer’s outreach programmes in and around the city to deliver medical services at the doorstep of patients in the remote villages. They would help move the requisite work force of Doctors, Nursing assistants and others, to these camps, Dr. Parija noted. Mr. Ramesh Babu pointed out that every year State
Bank of India donates nearly 1 per cent of the total profits to public charities under the Corporate Social Responsibility scheme. In the previous years, the Bank has donated two Battery operated vehicles to minimise the walking hardships to the patients in this sprawling campus. According to the Jipmer doct o r s, o n e ambulance will be made available for the rural health centre at Ramanathapuram, while another will be allocated to the urban health centre at Kuruchikuppam so that it will be useful for bringing the patients to the hospital at anytime. Other ambulances will be deployed at the causality section. Source : The Hindu
Apple launches CareKit to create health apps continued from page - 1
Meant to monitor symptoms and keep a track of the medication schedule, its other use cases include sharing photos of a wound or quantifying range of motion by using the iPhone’s accelerometer and gyroscope. CareKit is “empowering people to take a more active role in their care,” said Apple COO Jeff Williams. The first app created with CareKit will be suited for people with Parkinson’s; however Apple says that
this tool has a variety of potential applications. They expect it to be used for post-
surgery progress, physical therapy, diabetes management, mental health, pregnancy and more.
The CareKit framework offers core modules that includes a Care Card for displaying care plans, a Symptom and Measurement Tracker for monitoring symptoms and tracking objective measurements, Insights for surfacing health tips and visualizing trends, and Connect to engage care teams and family members as partners in your health journey. CareKit is localized to many languages for use world wide. Source: Business Medical Dialogues
Woman Delivers Baby in Ambulance, Kin Claims Negligence by Doctors Jind (Haryana): A woman on Wednesday delivered a baby in an ambulance as she was being rushed to PGI Khanpur even as her family members accused the civil hospital staff of “negligence”. Sarita was admit ted to the civil hospital on Tuesday night after she developed labour pain but was referred to PGI Khanpur on Wednesday morning when her pain increased. Her husband said that Sarita
delivered the baby in the ambulance as they were passing Nuran Khera village.
Although the delivery was normal and both the woman and the child are stable,
her family members claimed that they had pleaded with the doctors to not refer the woman to the PGI Khanpur. After the delivery inside the ambulance, the woman and her child were brought back to the civil hospital. Medical Superintendent Dr Anil Bir la s aid they will probe the circumstances that prompted the doctors to refer the woman to PGI Khanpur. Source: News18
pg
3 pg 3
Indian Medical Emergency Response System is going Digital continued from page - 1
hence saving crucial minutes during the golden hour. To enable the bridging between the users, hospitals and ambulance providers the platform enables the ambulance provider to perform fleet management functions on its Content Management System (CMS). The CMS allows for live tracking of ambulances and emergency staff along with map based assignment of ambulances to pending cases. Additionally, the CMS has a feature for generating tickets manually for cases not originating from the AMBER application so that the ambulance provider does not need to maintain a separate database for Advantages for Ambulance Providers, who will participate in the non-emergency patient transportation • Clinical information about the patients being transported allowing better services to the patients • Access to AMBER user database of users which will help in increasing revenue • Better utilization of ambulances due to location services and improved turn-around time • Better visibility of ambulance location and improved efficiency in running costs • Automated MIS
cases that aren’t triggered on AMBER and is also able to assign ambulances to these cases similarly to the ones that do get triggered on AMBER. Besides the emergenc y featur e, all ambulance providers will also have an opportunity to transport patients in non-emergency situations such as hospital discharges, OPD visits, visits for physiotherapy, diagnostics and intercity transportation. AMBER is live in Max Healthcare and Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in the Delhi-NCR region and is operational in AIIMS-Trauma Center as a pilot project.The company is in advanced discussions with other hospitals as well. Advantages for Hospitals • Enhanced preparedness with patient’s medical information and documents being available before the patient reaches the hospital • Increased visibility among potential patients leading to expansion in patient base • Ability to micro target consumers for more efficient and streamlined communication • Better utilization of ambulances due to location services and improved turn-around time • Better visibility of ambulance location and improved efficiency in running costs • Automated MIS • Boost in brand and public image due to improved patient experience
Ambulance Providers looking to join the AMBER eco-system shall need to fulfill very basic requirements like equipping their ambulances with smartphones running the Android Operating System and having an internet enabled desktop computer in their call center. For further information, interested providers may visit the company’s website at https://hiamber.com/ or contact Nipun Sharma, E: nipun@therapeople.net , Mob: 9654858949
Mass Casualty Management Triaging and segregation of fatal injured from stable victims in bomb blasts, earthquakes, fire, floods & mass casualties for rapid transfer based on Disaster Management guidelines- priority.
“The aim in a mass casualt situation is to--do the best for the most, not everything for everyone.” Mass Casualty: When an unexpectedly large number of injured/ill persons needs Emergency medical care at the same time. The grading of the mass casualty is done as follows: • Grade I: 10-15 Victims • Grade II: 16-30 Victims • Grade III: > 30 Victims Triage = Process by which priorities are set for the management of mass casualties, by color coding of patients- Red, yellow, green & black, according to severity of injured & chances of survival during shifting to
Hospital- based on GCS & trauma score. T riage involves a dynamic equilibrium between needs and resources. Needs = number of wounded and types of wounds. Resources = infrastructure and equipment at hand & competent per sonnel present. Priority patients are those with a good chance of good survival. I. Serious wounds: resuscitation and immediate surgery II. Second priority: need surgery but can wait III. Superficial wounds: ambulatory management IV. Severe wounds: supportive treatment
Dr Vivekanshu Verma
Senior Resident, Department Emergency Medicine & Trauma care, Medanta- The Medicity, Gurgaon. Mobile-+ 919810497871 Email: Vivekanshu@yahoo.co.in
THE AMBULANCE TIMES
News
Cancer Drug May Treat Sepsis: Research New York : Tiny doses of a cancer drug may stop the raging, uncontrollable immune response to infection that leads to sepsis, say researchers. A small dose of topoisomerase I (Top 1) inhibitor can dampen an acute inflammatory reaction to infection while still allowing the body’s protective defense to take place, showed the findings published in the journal Science. T h e t r e a tment m a y h e l p control n o t o n l y sepsis but also new and brutal assaults on human immunity such as novel influenza strains and pandemics of Ebola and other singular infections, said the study’s senior investigator, Ivan Marazzi, assistant professor at Icahn School of medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. Sepsis deadly infections often acquired in hospital by patients with a weak immune system is caused by
an excessive host response to infection, which in turn leads to multiple organ failure and death. The team found that use of one to three doses of a Top 1 inhibitor that is one fiftieth the strength of normal chemotherapy was enough to rescue 70-90 per cent of mice from an inflammatory storm death due to either acute bacterial infection, liver failure, or virus-bacteria co-infection. “Our results suggest that a therapy based on Top 1 inhibition could save millions of people affected by sepsis, pandemics, and many congenital deficiencies associated with acute inflammatory episodes what is known as a cytokine, or inflammatory, storm,” Mr Marazzi said. “These storms occur because the body does not know how to adjust the appropriate level of inflammation that is good enough to suppress an infection but doesn’t harm the body itself,” he said. “This drug appears to offer that life-saving correction,” Mr Marazzi explained. Source : Speciality Medical Dialogues
Ambulance crashes in Campbell Country An Altavista life saving crew ambulance crashed on U.S. 29 in Campbell County Sunday afternoon, according to Virginia State Police. The crash took place at 1:49 p.m. in the 3100 block of Wards Road in the Altavista area due to a left front tire blowout, said Trooper T.L. Barr. There were five occupants in the vehicle at the time of the crash: two medics, an 84-year old patient and two
juveniles participating in a ride-along program, Barr said. All occupants were transported to Lynchburg General Hospital with minor injuries and have been released, except the 84-year-old, who Barr said has fractures and will possibly be admitted. Barr said charges will not be placed as the accident was caused by equipment. Source : The News & Advance
Fit A Bit ! Wristband revolution is here to stay. We have werables slowly making way into our lives, measuring our hear t rate, steps taken , calories burnt and even the hrs of sleep. We has been using holter for heart rate and softwares for detect-
News
pg
4
60-year-old knocked down by ambulance continued from page - 1
According to the police, the deceased has been identified as Nallamothu Basavaiah, a resident of Nekkalam Gollagudem. Basavaiah, an agriculture worker, was heading to the fields on a bicycle. He crossed the main road and
was walking on the roadside when the ambulance knocked him down. He died on the spot. The ambulance driver has been taken into custody and a case of causing death due to negligence registered against him. Source : The Hindu
ing sleep disorders. I am just contemplating if we could use theese devices in some way in our medical practice or pre hospital care. For reason they are cheap, easy to use and can be operated by everyone and are farly accurate in measuring human vital signs. For monitoring of the heart rate we can use the watch later sync the date and see the trend. This can be useful for patients with arrythmias .Vaarienty of sleep disorders can be diagnosed with these machines. Besides all the monitoring , the data collected form these wearables can give us a strong insight into the current trends of human behaviour, eating habits,human physiology and sleep wake cycles observied by men and women of diffrent age groups in diffrent parts of the world . The date collected is also honest and very organised. Eagely awating some information from these companies to share what they have measured. I am open to more conversation on this topic.Please share your views , and we shall be pleased to acknoweldge your opinion. Author: Dr Satish Bhardwaj Please send your views to drsatishkbhardwaj@gmail.com
Please note that we do not recommend any particular device for use / neither promoting any on this platform.
JOBS ~ MEDICAL EQUIPMENTS ~ HEALTH SERVICES
~For Advertisement~ Rs. 500/- only
contact for advertisment
- RAJ 9910433333,
editorial- theambulancetimes@gmail.com
RNI No. DELENG/2012/41958. PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY : Satish Kumar Bhardwaj, EDITOR: Satish Kumar Bhardwaj, PUBLISHED AT: M-2, Greater Kailash-1, New Delhi - 110048, PRINTED AT: Intergraphic reproductions Pvt. Ltd. A11 DDA Sheds, Okhla Industrial area, Phase-1, New Delhi - 110020