Ambulance Stretcher Guidelines You Need to Know

‘Golden hour’ is the precious hour between the occurrence of an accident and treating the victims of injuries. For critically injured persons, it is crucial to begin treatment within this hour to save their life.

India, with its abysmal road safety have one of the highest road accidents in the world. Attending to the needs of the patients in these emergency situations are very few government ambulance services and private hospitals. India lacks a pan-India emergency response service like the 911 service in the United States.Ambulance Stretcher in delhi

But the situation is turning into an opportunity for many enthusing entrepreneurs and compassionate NGOs. They are setting up emergency ambulance services across the country. The sudden spurt also needs regulation on the part of the government.

To this effect, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has brought National Ambulance Code to standardise ambulance vehicle design across the country and guidelines for the mandatory equipment in them.

The code clearly specifies the design of an ambulance, the number of stretchers to be present in it, basic life support system etc.

For those who are planning to start an ambulance service business, let us find out about ambulance stretchers, one of the key equipment in an ambulance. The code specifies stretchers as patient handling equipment. It requires a main stretcher or an undercarriage stretcher and a pick up stretcher.

The Directorate General of Health Services, an attached office of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has laid out certain guidelines for the Ambulancestretchers that are to be used in an ambulance. Here are some of them:

•     The wheels of the stretcher must have a minimum diameter of 200mm and it should be made of a plastic compound to absorb bumps.

•     The backrest must be infinitely adjustable with shock-absorbing capacity.

•     The stretcher must be adjustable to have fully folded, fully unfolded and an intermediate positions.

•     The stretcher must be capable of automatically locked on to the floor of the ambulance.

•     It should be made of aluminium alloy and should not weigh more than 40kg.

For more details on ambulance stretchers, please visit us.