GVK EMRI is an Indian not-for-profit organisation and the largest ambulatory care provider in the world, providing emergency medical services coverage to 800 million people across India and Sri Lanka.[1]
GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute | |
Formation | 2005 |
---|---|
Headquarters | Hyderabad, Telangana |
Region | India |
Parent organization | GVK |
Staff | 47,000+ |
Website | http://www.emri.in |
History
editDr. AP Ranga Rao is credited with first conceptualizing 108 ambulance services in India,[2] having spent 10 years working with the National Health Service in Britain learning about emergency systems.[1]
In January 2005, the CEO of an Indian-based, German multinational corporation, Venkat Changavalli, invited Ramalinga Raju, the Chairman of Satyam Computer Services at the time, to be the chief guest at a business conference.[1] After the conference, Raju proposed creating an emergency medical services organization for India, and the Satyam Foundation began initial its operations.[3] Emergency Management & Research Institute (EMRI) was separately founded and on April 15, 2005, Changavalli became the CEO of EMRI.[4] Satyam Foundation's operations were later integrated into EMRI, with Satyam Computers (later purchased by Tech Mahindra)[5] remaining the technology partner.[3] EMRI was launched on August 15, 2005 with 14 ambulances and 70 employees in Andhra Pradesh.[4]
When Raju was imprisoned for corporate fraud in January 2009,[6][7] Changavalli had grown EMRI to eight states across India as CEO.[1] The scandal compromised EMRI, which had to operate without funding for four months while receiving funding assurances from the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, YS Rajasekhara Reddy, until May,[1] at which point GVK acquired EMRI, rebranding the organization as "GVK EMRI."[3] In 2013, Changavalli stepped down as CEO of GVK EMRI.[8]
In 2015, GVK EMRI signed an MoU to expand its operations to Sri Lanka,[9] and had expanded there by the end of the year.[10]
GVK EMRI began digitizing their operations in 2016.[11]
By 2017, GVK EMRI had expanded to 14 states and partnered with Robert Bosch GmbH to improve their technology usage.[12]
Structure
editEMRI was structured as a not-for-profit and continues to operate via public-private partnerships created with the government of Indian states.[4] EMRI services are provisioned to the public free of charge.[13][14] 85 to 90% of patients treated are the poorest people in India.[15] EMRI's ambulance system is financially supported by state governments, the federal government, and by philanthropic contributions.[16]
GVK EMRI's service has grown to 16 states and a fleet of 10,000 ambulances and 47,000 employees,[4][17] becoming recognized as the world's largest ambulatory provider, providing emergency medical coverage to 800 million people.[18] GVK EMRI's 27 dispatch centers receive 130,000 calls per day, to which GVK EMRI emergency medical providers respond to 80,000 emergency calls and assist with 200 childbirths per day, claiming to save 800 lives daily.[19] GVK EMRI said its service saved more than 1.5 million lives between 2005 and 2015, though no outside entity has verified its claim.[16] In a study published in Health Affairs in 2016, research conducted in two Indian states where GVK EMRI operates demonstrated their service helped reduce neonatal and infant mortality.[20]
To enhance efficiency, GVK EMRI centralized and vertically integrated dispatchers at call centers with the prehospital emergency care providers, dissimilar to American 911 models in which dispatch centers may be distinct from the organizations providing care.[15]
GVK EMRI has partnered with Stanford Medicine faculty to conduct needs assessments and improve the quality of emergency care,[15][21] as well as faculty from Michigan Medicine to conduct trainings of laypeople and develop specific trauma resuscitation protocols, while training educators and researching emergency stabilization centers.[22]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e "Calling 108: How One Institution Pioneered Emergency Medical Services in India". The Better India. 2019-07-04. Retrieved 2019-12-24.
- ^ "Dr. A.P. Ranga Rao dead". The Hindu. 2018-04-15. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2019-12-25.
- ^ a b c Haseltine, William A. (2018-12-11). Every Second Counts: Saving Lives with India's Emergency Response System. Brookings Institution Press. ISBN 978-0-8157-3708-7.
- ^ a b c d "GVK-run '108' emergency response services to be launched overseas". The Economic Times. 2015-08-15. Retrieved 2019-12-24.
- ^ "Tech Mahindra completes Satyam merger, becomes 5th biggest IT firm". The Economic Times. 2013-06-26. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
- ^ Bellman, Dhanya Ann Thoppil and Eric. "Satyam Founder Gets Prison for Fraud". WSJ. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
- ^ Kalavalapalli, Yogendra (2015-04-09). "Satyam scam: Ramalinga Raju gets 7 years in jail". livemint.com. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
- ^ "EMRI CEO Changavalli quits". Business Standard India. 2011-02-02. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
- ^ Kumar, V. Rishi. "GVK EMRI completes 10 years of providing emergency response services". @businessline. Retrieved 2019-12-24.
- ^ "GVK EMRI to now provide 108 ambulance services in Sri Lanka". medicaldialogues.in. Retrieved 2019-12-24.
- ^ "Smartphones sought for '108' ambulance drivers to digitise operations". Deccan Herald. 2016-05-05. Retrieved 2019-12-24.
- ^ "Robert Bosch ties up with GVK-EMRI to tackle road emergencies". India Today. June 7, 2017. Retrieved 2019-12-24.
- ^ "Prominent Indian Business Leader, GV Sanjay Reddy to address the University of Michigan's Graduating Class at the Ross School of Business". michiganross.umich.edu. Retrieved 2019-12-24.
- ^ "Alumnus, vice chair of Indian conglomerate gives keynote address at Purdue winter commencement". purdue.edu. Purdue News Service. Retrieved 2019-12-24.
- ^ a b c Jain, Siddharth. "India's medical miracle". Stanford Medicine. Retrieved 2019-12-24.
- ^ a b "FSI - Massive ambulance service reduces neonatal and infant mortality in India". fsi.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2019-12-24.
- ^ Krishnan, Gina (2018-11-28). "Dial 108: India's emergency response number has saved 1.5 mn lives so far". Business Standard India. Retrieved 2019-12-24.
- ^ "Care On The Go". pmi.org.in. Retrieved 2019-12-24.
- ^ "GVK EMRI completes 10 successful years". United News of India. August 15, 2015.
- ^ Babiarz, Kimberly S.; Mahadevan, Swaminatha V.; Divi, Nomita; Miller, Grant (2016-10-01). "Ambulance Service Associated With Reduced Probabilities Of Neonatal And Infant Mortality In Two Indian States". Health Affairs. 35 (10): 1774–1782. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2016.0564. ISSN 0278-2715. PMID 27702948.
- ^ Decoster, Jeffrey. "Stanford envisions impacting 2 billion lives by 2025". Stanford Medicine. Retrieved 2019-12-24.
- ^ "U-M's new collaboration could help rethink trauma care in India". University of Michigan News. 2019-11-06. Retrieved 2019-12-24.