Modelling emergency services infrastructure for smart city

Abstract

Emergency services in every country are among the very basic necessity that the government must provide to its citizens. Primarily, Emergency Management Services can be of two categories: Pre-hospital services and in-hospital services (separate emergency wards). Pre[1]hospital medical services include ambulatory services, transportation of the patients to hospital and providing the necessary medical care in form of first aid. The importance of emergency services has been globally signalled through the use of terms like ‘The Golden Hour’ and the ‘Platinum Ten Minutes’. The chances of survival of a patient largely increases if he receives basic care from trained professionals and is transported to the nearest hospital as early as possible. Losing out on the initial few minutes can prove to be fatal. In light of this fact, Emergency Management System is an integrally essential part of the overall healthcare system as it saves lives by providing care immediately. With such recognition, all over the world efforts are being made to develop the EMS system and make it more efficient. In the early 60-70s, emergency response system only comprised of road ambulances. But with growing traffic conditions, developed countries felt the need for more efficient way of transporting patients and minimizing the response time. In 1972, US government introduced a modern emergency medical helicopter transport system. The system was made more sophisticated and scaled up to different parts of the country. Other countries also started following the same and introduced similar services.