108 service of Gujarat

Many states in the country have 108 Emergency Response Service. But Gujarat has set up an excellent record of the performance of the service which is now popular as 108. United Nations and USAID have also praised the service. In little more than three years, the service has saved 85,729 lives. Not a small number by any means. The COO of the service in Gujarat Subodh Satyawadi makes it clear that saving of a life meant the person attended by 108 service was quite serious. Without help in golden hour(in first 20 minutes) a person would have died.

The biggest contribution of the service is in the case of pregnancy emergencies. The 108 has responded to 19.34 lakh calls in three years and four months. Of these, one third ,6.37 lakh to be precise were the cases of emergencies relating to pregnancies. Interestingly, in 16,884 cases a child was born in the ambulance. Imagine the situation if the lady had not got timely medical help.

Health Minister Jaynarayan Vyas says that in pregnancy emergency one must call 108. You may have Mercedes. It can give you comfort, but not the much needed medical help. It is wrong to say that people of remote areas only need such help. Most of the pregnancy related emergencies were from urban areas.

It all began in August 2007 with 15 ambulance catering to Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. Now there are 453 ambulances serving the need of 5.05 crore people spread in 26 districts of Gujarat, says Satyawadi. It has been decided to add 50 more ambulances in next three months and 100 more in the next financial year.

This is a great boon for people in remote areas. Snake bite is a common problem in forest and rural areas. With no doctors easily available, people now heavily depend on 108 service. In these three years more than 7,000 victims of snake bite have approached the 108 service says Jaynarayan Vyas. As health minister, for him, 108 is an excellent means to cope up with the problem of shortage of doctors, he says.

There is shortage of 40 percent of MBBS doctors and 60 percent PG doctors. Until the medical education infrastructure is improved, the shortage would continue. Even after setting up required medical colleges, one will have to wait for five or more years. But with 108 people get prompt service. Certainly an excellent way to deal with the emergency of shortage of doctors.

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The New Kutch

There is a very popular saying about Kutch, the border district of Gujarat. People cry when they first come here. Like a newly married woman, they do not want to come here. After staying here for some time they do not want to go back and start crying on the idea of leaving the place. Despite such a lovely description of the pull of the place, it is a fact that people of Kutch have gone to far off places to earn money. This is just because there were not adequate opportunities here.

But, situation is changing now. There is a reversal trend. People have started coming back to Kutch. It is the most happening place in Gujarat which is already a leading state with two digit growth rate. The place with rich natural resources and a great variety of handicrafts is now fast becoming a hub of industrial activity. Power projects of 10,000 plus MW and big cement companies are among the visible signposts of this metamorphosis.

It's Kandla and Adani Mundra ports are all set to be new gateways of India on the strategically advantageous western coast. This has led to the development of the district of exclusive import of timber. This is the only district in the country where timber is imported.

Kutch was known as a drought prone district. In every five years, at least two years used to be drought affected. Now things have changed. Water is aplenty. Rains pour water in the district, second largest district in the country after Sikkim. The result of this climatic change is obvious. Cash crops and horticultural crops are fast becoming favourites of the farmers. BT Cotton has increased the area of cotton cultivation and consequently the income of farmers.

Farmers here grow mango. Kesar variety of mango from Kutch has already robbed the charm of Kesar mango of Junagadh and has started entering into foreign markets. Similar is the case other horticultural crops here. It is all set to be the hub of horticultural crops in Gujarat.

These are some of the impressions I got while travelling through some parts of Kutch last week. Naturally, a six day visit is small to cover a district like Kutch. But it is quite sufficient to gain the idea of the changing Kutch.

I have seen Gujarat several times during the three decades of my journalistic career. Saurashtra and Kutch attract me in a very natural way. In my career , Kutch has a very distinct place. When I came here first, I had more than ten stories in just four days. My second visit, an assignment with the Army took me to the Rann of Kutch a place full of mirage effect. Those were the days, when army convoy used to move with the help of compass as there were no roads to most of Border Out Posts. This visit also taught me that Rann is not desert but a marshy land .

Since then I have visited Kutch several times. During my tenure with Indian Express, I came here at least once a year. Earthquake of Kutch of 2001 brought me here number of times. However, my this visit is almost after five years. I can certainly see the new Kutch in more details with a critical eye touching not so familiar a landscape.

I have decided to focus on kutch during the next two months and share with you all the joy of rediscovering Kutch woven in a fiction of my memories !