The Maharashtra government plans to launch an air ambulance service on the Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Highway, Mumbai-Pune Expressway and Mumbai-Goa Highway from the beginning of next year, Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik said on Tuesday. The proposed service is intended to reduce delays in taking road accident victims to trauma care centres during the critical first hour after a crash.
Sarnaik said Maharashtra records nearly 15,000 road accidents every year and that timely treatment remains a major challenge in many cases. He described faster access to medical care during the “golden hour” as a crucial factor in determining whether seriously injured victims survive.
“While preventing accidents remains our primary responsibility, establishing an effective emergency response system is equally important,” Sarnaik said. He added that accident victims should not lose their lives merely because emergency assistance or medical treatment was delayed.
The plan covers three major highway corridors: the Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Highway, the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and the Mumbai-Goa Highway. The government also intends to establish a network of trauma centres and empanel service providers for the proposed response system.
The initiative will require coordination between the transport, health and police departments. According to Sarnaik, the departments will jointly prepare standard operating procedures to define how emergencies are identified, how air ambulances are deployed and how patients are transferred to appropriate trauma facilities. The plan also involves standardising response protocols across the agencies involved.
The minister outlined a series of administrative deadlines for the project. Certified procedures for the service are to be prepared and approved by November 15. Approval from the high-powered committee is expected by the end of November, after which the tender process will begin. The air ambulance service is scheduled to commence at the beginning of the new year.
Health Minister Prakash Abitkar, Minister of State for Home (Urban) Yogesh Kadam and Transport Commissioner Rajesh Narvekar attended a meeting on the proposal at the transport department on Tuesday, along with other officials from the three departments. The government’s next steps are the approval of operating procedures, high-powered committee clearance and the initiation of tenders before the planned launch.
