Why collect so much information about ambulances?

Granular information helps the Superhero Network to determine which ambulance to deploy based on the patient's health condition - need for oxygen or ventilation etc.

An estimated 50,000 people may need hospitalisation in Ernakulam district of Kerala. Total hospital bed capacity is just under 10,000 beds with around 3000 beds occupied by other patients.

1. If the spread of COVID19 cannot be contained, transportation of patients would become a huge challenge.

2. Critical patients may have to be transported to hospitals in other districts or air lifted across the state.

3. Medical emergencies (other than COVID19) are expected to also elevate during this period.

4. There are currently 70 ambulances registered within the Ambulance Network.

5. Ambulances are going to become a precious resource, and dispatching based on the patient's health condition becomes crucial. Unlike normal scenario, the administrators cannot dispatch a Critical Care ambulance to a patient suffering from a relatively less dangerous medical emergency.

6. The network also has Reserved Ambulances equipped to transfer COVID19 patients. Their drivers are trained to minimize contact and stay safe during the journey.

Ambulance feature	Generic words	Medical term
Defibrillator	Chest pain On cardiac medication Pacemaker kept Cardiac history	Ventricular fibrillation Ventricular tachycardia Cardiopulmonary arrest Supraventricular tachycardia Atrial fibrillation
Oxygen	Breathing difficulty Chest pain Asthmatic On inhaler On oxygen	COPD patients Cardiac arrest MI Acute pulmonary oedema
Suction Machine	Breathing difficulty Chest-pain	Acute pulmonary edema Acute Bronchitis Bronchiectasis Pneumonia
Ventilator	No response Absent pulse Absent breath sounds	Respiratory failure Acute respiratory distress syndrome Pneumonia Congestive cardiac failure Sepsis

Use of information collected about ambulances

1. Granular data about all of the ambulances gives us the unique ability to dispatch a ambulance that is sufficient to safely transport a patient to the hospital based on his/her medical condition.

2. Risk assessment system at panchayat levels can determine possible hotspots for a COVID19 outbreak. Using the information about the ambulances, we'll be able to determine which ones should be moved closer to these hotspots. This ensures that we can deploy critical care/reserved ambulances faster and save more lives.