The Pune civic body has put on fast-forward its plans to acquire a fleet of ambulances for the citizens. The earlier plan was to have four superspecialty ambulances and set up a 24-hour helpline by the end of 2010. But after the February 13 bomb blast at German Bakery, the Pune Municipal Commission (PMC) now plans to roll out an enhanced fleet of eight such ambulances by May.

“Every person in the city was shaken by the incident. No one ever expected such kind of a thing would happen in Pune. Both private and government-run hospitals were prompt to react and provide treatment to the victims of the blast,” said R R Pardeshi, PMC Chief Medical Officer.

Though the PMC rushed its medical staff to the hospitals where the victims were admitted, he said, “PMC needs to be alert to handle any kind of such eventuality and should be in the forefront of providing emergency service.”

The PMC had announced the emergency medical service will start by the end of this year. “We were planning four superspecialty ambulances to be stationed across the city but would now double the number so that the emergency service will be more prompt and effective,” Pardeshi said.

Dean of Sassoon Hospital Dr Arun Jamkar said they will join hands with the PMC to enable prompt emergency medical service whenever required. “We will soon hold a discussion and set up a team for its implementation,” he said. Jamkar said it was for the first time that Sassoon Hospital implemented an outreach programme and sent its ambulance to bring in patients from the blast site. “We used to admit patients on their arrival in the beginning but this outreach initiative was more fruitful and we will continue it henceforth,” he said.

Sassoon Hospital had pressed in three ambulances immediately after the information of the blast. A team of 40 doctors, 45 nurses and 25 support staff was brought into service within 30 minutes so that there was no chaos of admitting and treating the victims.

Of the 18 patients brought to the hospital, two were discharged from the out-patient department on Saturday while the remaining were discharged after stabilising their health condition. “There are only four blast injured patients taking treatment in the hospital,” Jamkar said.

Meanwhile, the city traffic police is also introducing a crisis management system that would reduce the response time and ensure faster medical help to accident victims. A separate control room will be set up for the purpose that will be constantly in touch with the ambulances stationed across the city. “We have mapped all the hospitals of the city so that the victims are admitted in the nearest possible hospital for medical service,” police said