The 108 ambulance helpline, which was down for around 16 hours in the last few days, is running smoothly again, Health Department officials said.
When the helpline was down, many calls didn’t go through. Compared to the usual 7,000 to 8,000 calls on a usual day, it received only around 2,500 calls.
The Health Department then routed the calls to emergency numbers, like 112, to accept ambulance-related calls and also gave out district-level phone numbers that people could contact for the service.
These backup services are no longer required as the 108 helpline itself is running smoothly, said Dr Narayan, Deputy Director (EMRI-108) at the Health Department.
“In a meeting with the Principal Secretary (Health), all district health officers confirmed that calls were going to 108 helpline and ambulances were being dispatched,” he said.
The backup server for the helpline was repaired on Sunday afternoon, so as to resume the service.
“The main server is still being repaired. We will also buy an additional server for use in case of emergencies. It is estimated to cost Rs 7 to 8 lakh, but we will know the exact cost only when we put up the tenders,” Dr Narayan said.
The 108 service is run under the PPP model, with the government responsible for the assets, and the service provider GVK responsible for manpower, operations and IT solutions.