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Indian Express
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
2 injured as elephants run amok during Jagannath Rath Yatra in Ahmedabad
At least two people were injured after a few elephants that were a part of the ceremonial procession of the 148th Jagannath Rath Yatra in Ahmedabad ran amok in the middle of the road on Friday, sparking panic, before being controlled by mahouts. The procession continued after the elephants were escorted away by the police. The incident occurred at approximately 10.15 am on Friday while the Rath Yatra was passing through the Khadia area of the city. A caparisoned elephant suddenly moved away from the group and ran in the opposite direction, sparking panic in the crowded, narrow street in the walled city area. One or two other elephants also strayed away from the route. Even as the police warned people to move away, the mahouts chased the elephant that ran amok and brought it under control. According to the GVK-EMRI paramedic service deployed at the scene, a woman police personnel received first aid on the spot, and a male devotee was taken to Ahmedabad Civil Hospital for treatment. Videos of the incident show one of the elephants running amok along the road, with people lined up on both sides, and police personnel trying to keep devotees from panicking for a few tense moments before the elephant is brought to heel by the mahouts. The Ahmedabad City Police, at 10.28 am, said in a post on X, 'After elephants went out of control in the Khadia area, they have been dismissed from the Rath yatra and the procession is continuing as per schedule.' The 16 km procession of the 148th Rath Yatra began early Friday morning after Union Home Minister Amit Shah did the mangala aarti at 4 am at the Jagannath temple in Jamalpur, and Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel did the 'pahind' (sweeping with a golden broom) ritual later. Over 23,000 police officials and personnel from other forces have been deployed for the security of the Rath Yatra in Ahmedabad, the oldest and largest in the state.
Indian Express
16-06-2025
- Health
- Indian Express
Air India plane crash: ‘We saw man coming out of gate… didn't know he was a passenger'
Like the students in the BJ Medical College hostel, Satinder Singh Sandhu was having lunch with fellow paramedics at the local GVK-EMRI ambulance office inside the 1,200-bed hospital at Medicity in Ahmedabad on June 12 when he heard a massive explosion. Running outside, he saw a man coming out of the hostel building's gate as a massive fire raged behind him. This man was 39-year-old Viswashkumar Ramesh, the lone survivor of the London-bound Air India flight that crashed into the hostel building soon after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad. Sandhu took Ramesh's hand and guided him away from the site. A video of this has since been widely shared. 'I asked my team to deploy ambulances immediately while I rushed to the spot. When I got there, I realised this was a major incident. I called my head office and asked them to inform the police and send more ambulances. Meanwhile, five ambulances under my command reached the site,' Sandhu said. The 44-year-old has been with the GVK-EMRI emergency ambulance service for a decade, and is a supervisor who controls 20 of the 120 ambulances in the city. 'I first saw the watchman of the hostel injured on the road. We picked him up and dispatched him in one of the ambulances. Then, we saw one man coming out of the gate next to the burning hostel building. I approached him, but he suddenly turned around and began walking back to the crash site,' Sandhu told The Indian Express, referring to Ramesh. Sandhu said Ramesh initially resisted attempts to take him away from the site, repeatedly saying that his family member was burning in the fire. 'We thought it must be a family member inside the hostel building. We didn't know at that time that he was a passenger who had come out of the burning aircraft,' said Sandhu, adding, 'We finally managed to calm him down a little, seat him in one of the ambulances and send him to the hospital. He had injuries on his face, hands and legs. He had burn marks across his body, but he was able to walk with a slight limp.' A chilling new video has emerged from the site of the devastating #AirIndia Flight AI-171 crash, showing Vishwash Kumar Ramesh — the sole survivor of the tragedy — walking away from the smouldering wreckage with smoke billowing behind him. The footage, now widely circulated… — The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) June 16, 2025 It was en route to the hospital that Ramesh told paramedics he had been on the aircraft that had just crashed. He said he and his brother were going home to the UK and that he had been seated next to the emergency exit, in seat 11A. However, he did not know how he managed to exit the crashed aircraft. Sandhu said Ramesh was in a state of shock and confusion after his ordeal. His mind was still fixed on a singular point — saving his younger brother, Ajay, from the burning plane. Ajay was among the 241 people on board flight AI-171, and several others on the ground, to die in the crash. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner was carrying a total of 242 people. Ramesh and his brother, who were originally from the Union Territory of Diu, were British nationals settled with their families in Leicester, England. Sandhu said he and his fleet of ambulances were on the site of the crash by 1.41 pm, just three minutes after the crash that took place at 1.38 pm. A firefighting team also arrived soon after and started the task of dousing the flames. It was when the heavy soot-laden smoke cleared that paramedics saw charred bodies of men, women and children strewn on the ground. There were also bodies inside the medical college hostel compound. Sandhu was among the first to rush into the building to try and save anyone stuck in the rubble or stranded by the fire. He said he had no count of how many people his team managed to rescue from the hostel premises and the road in front of it, but estimated that it must have been at least 20-25. Originally from Thaluh village in Punjab's Rupnagar district, Sandhu has lived in Gujarat since 1992.
Indian Express
07-06-2025
- Health
- Indian Express
Aarogya Samiksha Kendra: A single-window solution for healthcare management
The Gujarat government is set to inaugurate, in the next few days, a comprehensive health control room — Aarogya Samiksha Kendra — in Gandhinagar that will not only act as a review centre for all state and national health programmes but will also be the hub for health metrics analysis and command centre, especially in times of crisis or disasters. It will also act as a call centre facility for those seeking help from the 104 helpline as well as information on the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY). The review centre will be the long sought umbrella organisation that can issue commands down to the primary health care (PHC) level to better integrate health and medical services across the state, said a statement from the Health Department. Review of health metrics The Aarogya Samiksha Kendra will offer a platform for integration of the entire Health Department's data involving multiple metrics, including medical services, vaccination, maternal and child health, public health statistics, among others on its dashboard. This will allow senior health officials to take stock, identify gaps and implement corrective measures, and then convey them to the field health staff across one or all districts in the state. The communication module with its video conferencing facilities and click-to-dial features will enable top officials to not only pass down policy decisions to field staff and district level officers, but also call on individual officials or groups of personnel from a particular area to review progress. An official, familiar with the matter, said that this will also enable peer learning, collective brainstorming of ideas, corrective tactics and better implementation of health strategies at the ground level. Further, the kendra is also to be used for training the personnel of the Health Department. Teams from a single district or teams of one particular division from multiple districts can be called in and trained at the centre through audio-visual aids with the facilities set up at the kendra in Gandhinagar, according to the officials. Non-emergency 104 helpline The GVK-EMRI (Emergency Management and Research Institute) non-emergency call centre, with the 104 toll-free number, was moved to the new facility from Kathwada (Ahmedabad) in mid May, said an official. Another official from GVK-EMRI who runs this helpline said that the move was facilitated without dropping a single call. The call centre currently has 100 call takers with the number of people likely to increase incrementally as the operations expand gradually, according to the official. The call takers include doctors, counselors, clinical psychologists and paramedics who advise people not only on their 'sick' symptoms, but also make sure that if the patient appears to be in an emergency situation, to switch the call to the emergency centre and dispatch an ambulance to their location. Further, with an upsurge in Covid cases, the helpline also advises potential or actual Covid patients on home isolation, medication and, depending on their symptoms, ask them to visit a doctor. Health officials also said that the department wanted the kendra to be ready before monsoon as rains give rise to a lot of medical issues ranging from the spread of vector-borne diseases to pneumonia and other health problems caused in areas of flooding. Flooding also tends to disrupt vaccination processes and access to health services in under-developed districts. Monitoring of health scheme patients The call takers of the 104 helpline have also been co-opted into monitoring the vulnerable patients, enrolled in critical healthcare programmes run by the state and the Centre, including the PM-JAY programme. Pregnant women with sickle cell anemia, heart and kidney problems, weight less than 42 kg, low hemoglobin and high risk pregnancies who need to avail antenatal care and other treatment are given one-to-one calls and they are also given reminders in connection with their check-up dates. Parents of children who are underweight, malnourished or are suffering from debilitating diseases and are in treatment under the School Health Programme are called and reminded of check up and medication refill dates. This also includes vaccination programmes. High-risk TB patients undergoing treatment and patients who have experienced side effects of TB drugs during 15 days of treatment are called by the doctors. These include patients who have completed two, three, four and six months of TB treatment. Feedback and enquiries of patients undergoing treatment under PM-JAY and evaluation through the services of the helpline number has also started. Officials said that as the kendra achieves full operationality, more health services will be added to the profile. Disaster response: Command and control While the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC) has already been operational for years now, the Health Department had wanted its own control room to be able to direct operations in times of natural disasters or cluster infections that need continuous and real-time monitoring at the state level. With the facilities at the Aarogya Samiksha Kendra, senior health officials will be able to pass on instructions and receive updates from the ground, enabling them to make decisions in view of the changing situation on the field, according to the officials. Giving an example, a source said, 'At the time of Cyclone Tauktae (in 2021), we first evacuated all the pregnant women. This was all done by the Health Department.' Similarly, in cases of localised infections or disease clusters, health staff on the ground can be given operational guidance from this centre.
Time of India
13-05-2025
- Health
- Time of India
108 Ambulances handled 200+ cases during Chithirai events
: Even as a 64-year-old from Tirunelveli died of cardiac arrest in Madurai on Monday during the , handled over 200 cases of and provided timely assistance. Officials said that a majority of cases handled were of people fainting due to prevailing hot climate.R Prasad, regional manager, 108 GVK-EMRI Ambulance services, told TOI that they handled 214 cases during the keys events on May 8, 9, 11 and 12. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now "We made plans in advance especially for 's entry into Vaigai river. Ten ambulances and three bike ambulances were in place at various spots identified as vulnerable. We also stocked up on ORS and fluids in addition to regular requirements anticipating the need, which came in handy," he Kallazhagar events on Sunday and Monday alone, as many as 128 cases were handled, including fainting, abdominal ailments, cardiac ailments, diabetes, fever/infections, and trauma cases. Advanced Life Support ambulances were also stationed to handle critical cases. "We even had a small vehicle stationed close to the spot where Kallazhagar entered Vaigai river to ensure quick response. Though we responded immediately, the 64-year-old man who suffered cardiac arrest died on the way," said Ramkumar, programme manager. Bike ambulances were greatly useful in fainting cases and providing first aid, he said. Bike ambulances alone handled around 25 cases on the day. He added that police and health department support also speeded up response time.
