Odisha rolls out ‘Dial 102’ service for pregnant women, children

Reported by Santosh Jagdev

Bhubaneswar, July 11:

After successful implementation of emergency service ‘Dial 108’ in the state, the Odisha Government today launched ‘Dial 102’, a service under the National Ambulance Scheme (NAS) to provide round the clock transport services to pregnant women and sick infants of the state free of cost.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik flagged off the project at Jaydev Bhawan here on the occasion of World Population Day and dedicated 118 ‘Dial 102’ Basic Life Support (BLS) ambulances to the state.

In order to maximize the benefits of the Janani and Sishu Surakshya Karyakram (JSSK) scheme, the state government has decided to outsource the task to Ziqitza Health Care Limited for operation and management of the centralized call centre ‘102’.

Launching ‘Population Stabilization Fortnight Campaign’ on the occasion, the Chief Minister said, “The population stabilization campaign has been an initiative in the state for the last four years with an attempt to bring all stakeholders to one platform in order to consolidate the efforts for fighting the menace of population explosion. The campaign further creates awareness on population control and addresses the family planning issues in a systematic manner. ”

Highlighting the state’s progress in family planning programme during the last four years, Atanu Sabysachi Nayak, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, said that Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in Odisha has=d decreased from 4.7 to 2.1 which he said was an outstanding performance. He also said that the government is promoting small family among the people in the state.

Outlining the ‘Dial 102′ scheme, Ms Rupa Mishra, Project Director said, “The objective of the project is to provide timely, assured round the clock transport services to pregnant women and sick infants of the state free of cost. It is expected that approximately 13 lakh beneficiaries will avail this service per annum and state government has planned to roll out 500 ‘Dial 102’ ambulances within 3 months.”

The ambulances are fitted with Gobal Positioning System (GPS) and are positioned in various strategic locations across the state to ensure 30 minutes’ response time to transport patients to health care facilities.

The state government had signed MoU with Mumbai based company Ziqitza Health Care Ltd on Feb 26 this year to provide 102 emergency ambulance health care services to pregnant women and new born baby.

Ziqitza Health Care Ltd is now operating 420 ‘Dial 108’ ambulances across 30 districts of Odisha.