Noida, Oct 30 The Gautam Buddh Nagar Police on Friday launched ‘Operation FAST’ (Fast Ambulance Seamless Transition), a round-the-clock traffic coordination system to ensure quicker movement of ambulances carrying critically ill patients and road accident victims to hospitals, it said.
A dedicated helpline — 9218981716 — has been set up for ambulance operators, hospital control rooms and ambulance staff to seek traffic assistance. An Ambulance Traffic Facilitation Cell is also being established in the Traffic Police Control Room to coordinate the movement of emergency vehicles, police said in a statement.
The initiative has been developed under the guidance of Gautam Buddh Nagar Police Commissioner Lakshmi Singh, following research by DCP (Headquarters) Shavya Goyal, it said.
As part of a trial conducted on Friday, an empty ambulance covered around 12 km from Chilla Border to Max Hospital and Fortis Hospital in approximately 10 minutes on each route during peak traffic hours, the statement said.
“The trial demonstrated that effective and proactive traffic coordination can significantly reduce ambulance travel time, even during periods of heavy congestion,” police said.
Under the proposed system, ambulance dispatchers, hospital control rooms or ambulance staff will share the vehicle’s location, destination and intended route with the dedicated control room. Traffic personnel stationed along the route will then coordinate to clear intersections in advance, regulate traffic from the opposite direction and manage signals temporarily wherever required.
The system will follow a “rolling traffic clearance mechanism”, under which traffic at successive intersections will be managed as the ambulance moves forward. Public address systems may also be used to alert motorists about an approaching ambulance.
Major government and private hospitals, ambulance service providers and emergency dispatch centres have been brought into the coordinated network.
Primary routes connecting major hospitals in the district have also been identified, the statement said.
The initiative aims to minimise delays in transporting patients with severe injuries, head trauma, heavy bleeding and other life-threatening conditions to hospitals and trauma centres. It is also aligned with the broader ‘Zero Fatality District’ initiative aimed at reducing preventable deaths, police said.
Citizens have been urged to give way to ambulances, avoid blocking intersections and cooperate with traffic personnel during emergencies.
“The core objective is to ensure that no critically ill patient or road accident victim is deprived of life-saving treatment due to traffic congestion,” the statement said.
(PTI News)
