Now, people living within a 5 km radius of the AIIMS can avail an emergency mobile medical service in case anyone suffering a heart attack or chest pain.
The initiative is a joint venture of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The new move is as a part of expanding the initiative’s reach, launched in April and was earlier available within a radius of 3 km.
The first responders for treating heart attack patients are a pair of motorcycle-borne trained paramedic nurses under ‘Mission DELHI’. So far, the initiative has received 44 cases.
The mobile medical nurse team is dispatched immediately for examining the patient, providing necessary medication/CPR, transmitting ECG to the consultant at AIIMS, on receiving a call at Mission Delhi’s toll-free emergency helpline numbers (1800111044 and 14430).
A CATS (Centralized Ambulance Trauma Services) ambulance will arrive and take the patient for further treatment while providing the patient with emergency treatment. When the patient is on way to the hospital, doctors at AIIMS control centre will evaluate the data received from the nurses to establish a further course of treatment.
“The project has now been extended to 78 sq km around AIIMS, New Delhi and will now cater to a population of 20-25 lakhs in the national capital,” Dr Chandni Suvarna, a scientist at AIIMS, said.
The ICMR has signed a memorandum with CATS for this project. “With bike-ambulances and trained nurses, Mission Delhi focuses on the importance of reaching with the medical help much faster, timely response and doorstep care saving the heart in time, given the high-density traffic conditions in the city where the movement of four-wheeler ambulances becomes difficult,” Dr Suvarna said.
An ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) heart attack is an acute, high risk, time-sensitive life-threatening disease. The management of STEMI heart attack patient requires treatment to be started within the golden hour (90 minutes) of the onset of symptoms and providing clot buster therapy to the patient within 30 minutes of reaching the hospital.
Delays in reaching hospital and initiation of clot-buster therapy are the major causes of deaths in STEMI heart attack patients.
According to AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria, the idea has been tried in remote areas of the country but not specifically for reaching those with heart trouble. Guleria earlier said the attempt is to reach patients within 10 minutes.

Source: Business Standard

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