EMRI model - Indiagovernance.gov.in

Study of Emergency Response Service (EMRI Scheme)arrangements and the need for independent monitoring had been recognized. The crisis ofits promoter only hastened on a process of evaluation that was well underway. Today thereis a situation that without central intervention into the governance of the EMRI, the wholesystem could collapse. Yet such intervention if poorly planned could create more problemsthan it would solve.This evaluation seeks to build on the EMRI model of ERS, not replace it, and much lessabandon it. The average cost of Rs 450 30 per ambulance trip, provided free to everyemergency medical, police or fire needing help anywhere in the country, and that too within20 to 40 minutes, is almost a dream, and it is a dream that is tantalizingly within our reach,not within a lifetime but within a plan period!! Rs 2000 31 crores to reach such a goal is steepbut not impossible. It costs about as much as we spend on pulse polio today. The onlydanger in this stage is the danger of complacency and the abandonment of caution andbasic systems of governance in a fit of populism and competitive promotion of what seems acertain winner. It is in this spirit of such caution mixed with a commitment to achievinguniversal ERS that these recommendations are made.30 This is assumed as ideal, looking at the present Rs. 600 per trip and accounting for some possibilities of costreduction and economies31 This figure takes into account the annual operating cost of around Rs. 15 lakhs per ambulance, for 10,000ambulances nation-wide and also building in some mark-up in light of additional ambulances that may be requiredand other contingenciesNational Health Systems Resource Centre (NHSRC)43