A new emergency medical services ambulance project is expected to get operationalised in Maharashtra, by SumeetSSG, a joint venture between Sumeet Group Enterprises and Spain’s SSG Matrix.
With an investment of ₹1,600 crore, the first phase of the project with involve 1,756 ambulances and will be completed by September 2025, Summit Salunke, Vice Chairman of the ₹1,800-crore Sumeet Group, told businessline. The consortium had bid for the project and it will be implemented through the PPP (public-private-partnership), he said, adding that the funds would be raised through banks and so on. The project would employ 14,000 people, he added.
This is Sumeet Group’s maiden ambulance project; SSG Matrix is Europe’s third largest emergency transport services provider, Salunke said. And they would look to bid for similar emergency ambulance services projects in Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, expected to come up next year, he added.
Free for all
The new 108 ambulance services in Maharashtra will be free for all and shall have a response time of between 20 to 30 minutes, across the State, he said. The central emergency response centre – or the command and control point is located in Pune, he added. The emergency services project in the State has in the past attracted criticism from certain political circles, alleging that some companies were favoured.
The consortium includes BVG India, the earlier contractor whose pact with the State government had also reportedly come under a cloud. Salunke said, BVG was part of the consortium for their expertise on having run the project earlier. The present consortium will bring in international standards, he added.
The fleet would comprise advanced life support ambulances (ALS), basic life support ambulances (BLS), neonatal ambulances, first responder bikes, sea and river boat ambulances. The forward integration for MEMS 108 would include medical application drones and helicopter emergency medical services, a note on the project said.
The project includes advanced ambulances equipped with technologies like Mobile Data Terminals (MDT), tablet PCs, RFID, GPS, caller location tracking, CCTV, and TRIAGE systems, a note from Sumeet said. Additionally, it will have inbuilt Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD), Vehicle Tracking and Management System (VTMS), and patient arrival intimation systems, it added.
The ambulance project announcement comes against the backdrop of ongoing bilateral meetings between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchéz Perez Castejon of Spain.