EMRI plans to cover entire state

Hyderabad, July 30 (UNI) The Emergency Management and Reserarch Institute (EMRI), a voluntary service in the city, has planned to cover rural areas in the state with public participation.

EMRI Chief Executive Officer Venkat Chengavelli told pressmen here today the aim of the institute was to cover more than six crore people in the entire state.

The EMRI started operations on August 15 last year here. Now, it operated in 50 towns in all the districts of the state. It deployed 70 state-of-the-art ambulances with life saving equipment, modern communication and public address systems and powerful cutters and extrication tools.

The primary objective of EMRI was to expedite the response to all kinds of emergencies.

He said EMRI could be accessed by calling 108, which was toll free, by mobile or landline on a 24-hour basis.

Mr Chengavelli claimed the EMRI had been instrumental in saving the life of 4,000 people during the last one year. Of the 1.72 miliion calls received, 50,000 had been serious emergencies.

More than 2.2 crore population was being covered in the 50 towns in which the EMRI had established operations.

He said they planned to cover the entire country by 2010 with the support of similar organisations if the concerned state governments, and organisations came forward to support them .

The EMRI chief expressed happiness over the cooperation extended by District Collectors, Superintendenet of Police and government hospitals in their efforts to save precious lives.

He said 634 private hospials in the state had agreed to treat the emergency cases, being brought by them, free of cost for 24 hours.

Satyam Computers Chairman B Ramalinga Raju, who was instrumental in the project taking shape, had constributed Rs 50 crore and 34 acre of land costing Rs 100 crore to run the project.

To educate the people, the EMRI launched its third issue of its house emergency journal which was released by a senior journalist in the city today.

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