(Photo credit: PTI)
NEW DELHI: The Centre on Monday unveiled the Operational Guidelines on National Ambulance Services (NAS), 2026, prescribing national standards for ambulance deployment, staffing, equipment and monitoring to strengthen emergency medical transport across the country.The guidelines, released by Union health minister Jagat Prakash Nadda during the 16th Conference of the Central Council of Health and Family Welfare (CCHFW), seek to standardise ambulance services and strengthen pre-hospital emergency care through uniform operational standards across all states and Union Territories.Nadda said the framework aims to enhance the quality, accessibility and efficiency of pre-hospital emergency care through standardised ambulance infrastructure, staffing, equipment, response protocols, digital integration and quality assurance mechanisms.The guidelines prescribe detailed operational norms covering the entire ambulance ecosystem, including ambulance categorisation, population-based deployment, human resource requirements, equipment standards, medicines, infection prevention and control, vehicle maintenance, performance monitoring and grievance redressal mechanisms. The objective is to establish uniform standards that ensure quality, accessibility, efficiency and responsiveness of ambulance services while enabling timely patient stabilisation and referral. A major focus of the guidelines is the establishment of Integrated Command and Dispatch Centres (ICDCs) equipped with GPS-enabled ambulance tracking, structured triage systems, call logging, standardised dispatch protocols and real-time performance dashboards. They also encourage the progressive integration of ambulance services with the unified emergency response number 112, enabling faster, better coordinated emergency response.The guidelines mandate compliance with AIS-125 standards for all ambulances to enhance the safety, quality and standardisation of emergency medical vehicles. They also prescribe training and skill standards for Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), recognising their role in delivering pre-hospital emergency care.To strengthen referral systems, the framework proposes GIS-enabled mapping of health facilities, referral centres, ambulance base locations, accident-prone and high-risk areas, bed availability and critical care readiness. This is expected to help dispatch teams identify and transport patients to the most appropriate healthcare facility in the shortest possible time.The guidelines also recommend scientific deployment of ambulances based on emergency call volumes, accident hotspots, referral patterns, traffic conditions, terrain and geographical accessibility to ensure optimal utilisation of ambulance resources and improve response times.
