The National Highway Authority of India has mandated that ambulances deployed on all of its projects must reach crash sites within 10 minutes when the incident is within 10 km of toll booths, failing which a ₹10,000 penalty will be imposed for each delay. The authority has also set a one-hour limit for accident victims to reach the nearest hospital after an emergency ticket is accepted, with a ₹10,000 penalty for every delay.
For incidents located farther away, the permissible time will increase proportionately based on distance. Compliance will be checked through GPS data and the NHAI Care dashboard, with a ₹10,000 penalty for each incident where the prescribed time is exceeded.
Under the new norms announced on Wednesday, ambulance movement after an emergency ticket is accepted must take less than two minutes, with the movement to be verified through GPS data and the IMS (Intelligent Medical Software) Care dashboard. An additional ₹5,000 penalty will apply for every extra minute or part thereof. The circular also notes that the delay in response to accidents has been flagged by the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety and in a performance audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
Similarly, contractors have to ensure AIS-140-compliant GPS devices must be available on on-road units with a ₹2,500-per day penalty for non-compliance. Ambulances must also remain visible on the IMS Care dashboard at all times, with the same ₹2,500 daily penalty for failure.
{{/usCountry}}Similarly, contractors have to ensure AIS-140-compliant GPS devices must be available on on-road units with a ₹2,500-per day penalty for non-compliance. Ambulances must also remain visible on the IMS Care dashboard at all times, with the same ₹2,500 daily penalty for failure.
{{/usCountry}}The rejection of any emergency ticket by an on-road unit will attract a ₹10,000 penalty per incident. NHAI has also prescribed a ₹10,000 penalty per inspection where equipment, medicines or staff are found unavailable or deficient against the requirement of the relevant contract.
Ambulances have also been asked to additionally conduct a daily dry run or mock drill and travel at least 5 km every 24 hours. The circular exempts a day from this requirement if the ambulance is attending an accident and its total movement that day exceeds 5 km.
Prof Venkatesh Balasubramanian, head of Centre of Excellence for Road Safety in IIT Madras, said the 10-minute response-time target was a “very welcome move” as it would introduce measurable service standards for ambulance operators and help improve survival after crashes. “Response time of 10 minutes is slightly high and should be actually lesser, but this is a good starting point,” he said.
Prof Balasubramanian said the next step should be to make ambulance deployment data-driven, including dynamically adjusting base locations according to accident patterns and time of day. This will help reduce the time taken to reach crash sites. He cited models tested in Madhya Pradesh for using MDT and TAEI in Tamil Nadu, where data and vehicle tracking have been used to optimise ambulance operations.
However, he said reaching the crash site quickly was only one part of emergency care. “It is okay that I reach the spot, from there where will I go?” he said, stressing the need to map trauma facilities and ensure hospitals are equipped to handle specific injuries.