Ambulance App - Book an Ambulance in a Click

You are enjoying your ride back with your friend from Raasta Cafe, when
suddenly, a speeding car rams into your bike at a crossroad and drives away
without stopping. You somehow escape the accident with minor injuries. But
your friend is down, unconscious and bleeding. You are in a state of shock. The
few cars on the road don't even bother to help you. At this moment, all you can
think of is to call for an ambulance. The guy you call up insists you to find some
other ambulance as his vehicle is pretty far from your place. When you try the
other number, he says he will need at least 20 minutes to reach the spot.
Finally after 30 minutes the ambulance reaches you. Your friend is losing blood
but you are unable to reach the hospital quickly because of a traffic jam on
Mysore road. Somehow, after an hour after the accident you reach the hospital.
It doesn't end there. The doctor says your friend urgently needs 'B' negative
blood which is a very rare blood group. You call up all your friends and family
and most of the blood banks nearby. After a couple of hours of your search you
find a donor. But it is too late by now. The doctor says he couldn't save your
friend's life.
This situation must have given you Goosebumps, isn't it?
Theirs is not a unique experience in a city with more than 60 lakh vehicles,
where the surge in motorization, poor infrastructure and undisciplined drivers
leave roads gummed up and the few ambulances that the capital has fight to get
through almost unbeatable traffic.
According to WHO's Global Road Safety Report 2015, India accounts to more
than 200,000 deaths due to road accidents. This number is more than people
killed in all our wars put together.
Emergency Service Statistics

Bangalore comes second only to Delhi in the list of most accidents-prone Indian
cities. Figures suggest that while road accidents claim a life every 6 minutes in
India, about 8,000 accidents happen every year in Bangalore alone. According
to available data on deaths in accidents, about 60 percent of the deaths occur
because, non-availability of medical aid like ambulance, first aid within the
'golden hour'.
According to Karnataka state Health Department, there are 517 108 ambulances
in Karnataka out of which 52 108 ambulances in Bangalore and there are only 6
state government hospital ambulances in Bangalore. According to available
statistics, among the registered 550 private hospitals and nursing homes in
Bangalore, only 25% have ambulances (that is around 135). Further, the
autonomous government hospitals have total 32 ambulances.
There are also many diagnostic centres in the city which ply transport vehicles
or ambulances for their patients. These just have a stretcher in them and are
mostly used to transport patients between hospitals and diagnostic centres.
However, the total number of ambulances available in Bangalore housing
around 11.7 million people is around 230, going by the available statistics - that
means one ambulance for around 50800.
The average response time taken to reach a patient in urban areas is around 14
minutes, while in rural areas it is around 26 28 minutes. The total time taken
by an ambulance from the time it is called is one hour two minutes- which is
called the Golden Hour. Golden Hour includes the time the ambulance is
called for, the patient is picked from the victims place, paramedic examining
the patient, taking the patient to the hospital and admitting him to the hospital.
The domain of Emergency medical care is no longer limited to actual inhospital treatment from arrival to stabilization. It has expanded to pre-hospital
care and transportation. This is where we come in. A 'Smartphone' with a free
App can help in such crisis. We, at Arera Technologies, have built a mobile
application called 'Blood for sure", which tries to do its bit towards Emergency
Medical Services (EMS).
The BLOOD FOR SURE (BFS) app is designed to have a variety of features.
Booking an ambulance is now faster and hassle-free. In a situation, like the one
demonstrated above, using this app to book your ambulance is more preferable

than wasting crucial time by calling up the ambulance drivers individually. All
you have to do is choose between 'Advanced or Basic life support' based on the
condition of the patient. Then the app uses your current location and lists down
all the nearest ambulances in an ascending order of their distances from you. It
also charts the shortest possible route for the driver by which you can reach the
nearest hospital quickly.
Very often, the life of a patient is at risk just due to the unavailability of blood.
That's why we added a feature to find a Blood Donor. You just have to mention
the required 'Blood type', and your mobile screen will display a map of the
current location of registered blood donors around you, in the radius of 4
kilometres. When you choose a donor, an SMS is sent to them with the required
details. You also have the option to send the SMS to everyone in the list. This
single feature can reduce the waiting time from hours to a few minutes.
Now imagine the earlier situation with the 'Blood for Sure' app. That friend of
yours would have been easily saved from the jaws of death. Wouldn't you
agree?
Sometimes an emergency may not just be a road accident. On many occasions
we see people on roads suffer a cardiac arrest. Also, there may be situations like
an asthma attack, a heat stroke or even a diabetic emergency. A few
precautionary measures which can be taken by us before the arrival of an
ambulance can play a crucial role in saving a life. Our app provides all the
necessary information and the first aid steps regarding such emergencies. We
made sure this feature is added to the app because emergency medical services
not only require prompt transportation to the nearest health facility, but also
needs rapid assessment to the emergency situation. This feature surely makes
the app unique.
Our aim is only one. To save as many lives as possible during a medical
emergency. With this app, the battle is only half won. There has to be a
widespread awareness about Medical emergency among the citizens. Also, the
government policies can play a more important role to achieve the goal of road
safety. The recent initiative of the Government of Karnataka of 'Helmets to the
Pillion rider' is a commendable one. But even better policies can be initiated.
Better public transport facilities like metros and Bus Rapid Transit System not
only control pollution levels, it can reduce the risk of road accidents
significantly.
Finally, a good mobile application and better government policies can still not
save a life until the people bring some changes in themselves. A change can be

anything. It can be- restraining yourself from driving when you have consumed
alcohol. Or wearing a helmet while riding your bike, not for the sake of that
traffic police who is waiting to fine you, but for the sake of your own safety. Or
a change can be to give way to an ambulance on a crowded road. These little
changes will surely make this world a better place.
For Emergency Ambulance, Blood requirement call for Blood For Sure helpline
080 67335555 or visit our website www.bloodforsure.com. To register in Blood
For Sure the app link is
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.areratech.bloodforsure&hl=e
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