EMRI to start services in UP, J&K

CHENNAI: The EMRI 108 emergency ambulance service, being managed by the GVK group now, will soon start operating in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. Emergency Management Research Institute (EMRI), an NGO, operates the 108 service in 11 States including Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Assam and Meghalaya. This service has been modeled after 911, the toll-free emergency service of the USA.

State Governments are mainly responsible for bearing the project's operational as well as capital expenditure. The World Bank is financing the cost of the ambulances in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka while the State Governments are financing the operational costs.

B.N. Sridhar, the GVK EMRI regional chief operating officer (Tamil Nadu) said, “In the last three years, GVK EMRI has infused about Rs 125 crore into this initiative. We are present in 11 states. By the first week of June, will begin services in UP, initially operating about 900 ambulances to cover the state. In J&K, talks are in the final stages.”