Ernakulam : ‘Prateeksha’, the marine equivalent of an accident and emergency ambulance was inaugurated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan via video conferencing today. Prateeksha is part of a 3-unit fleet - along with ‘Prathyasha and ‘ Karunya’- that were inaugurated at a mooring in Kochi shipyard in a brief ceremony overseen by Fisheries Minister J Mercykuttyama and Fisheries Department Secretary Tinka Biswan.
Crewed by paramedics and medical technicians, marine ambulances have been launched to respond to accidents at sea or on vessels by enabling life-saving and stabilizing treatment to commence as soon as a patient is on board and to be continued as the vessel speeds towards land.
The fleet costs a total of Rs 18.24 crore with a price tag of Rs 6.08 crore per ambulance. The project has been funded by integrating it into Ockhi Rehabilitation Project and Rs 7.36 crore from the Chief Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund and Rs 2 crore from Plan Fund of the Fisheries department. The building costs of one ambulance has been entirely borne by Bharat Petroleum. Also, as part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the Cochin Shipyard contributed half in costs toward one marine ambulance.
Central Institute of Fisheries provided the technology for making of marine ambulances - each measuring 23 m in length, 5.5m in width and 3 m in depth..
Each ambulance is equipped to position 10 emergency patients on relief beds at a time and head for the shore with live-saving treatments already underway. Fitted with medical gadgets for primary care, pharmacy and a mortuary, marine ambulances would be available on call 24 hours for emergency. Each vessel also has on board a squad comprising specially trained rescue personnel. Technical personnel on board are provided by Kerala Shipping and Inland Navigation Corp.
Pratheeksha, Prathyasha and Karunya will operate from their harbours in Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Kozhikode respectively.
The marine ambulance fleet inaugural was presided over by Minister for Fisheries, J Mercykuttyamma and attended by MP Hibi Eden, MLAs TJ Vinod, S. Sharma, KJ Maxi and John Fernandez, the BPCL Cochin Refinery Executive Director, Muraleedharan, Cochin Shipyard Operations Director NV Suresh Babu, Fisheries Additional Director R Sandhya, Joint Directors NS Shreela, Saju MS and Deputy Directors P Maja Jose, Tajudheen and M Anilkumar
