Post-COVID gains: Tamil Nadu’s emergency care sees drop in mortality rates

Chennai: Tamil Nadu’s emergency medical services and maternal healthcare system have shown significant improvement in the post-COVID-19 period, according to a new study by researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras.

The study, published in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, found reductions in maternal and neonatal mortality along with better ambulance response efficiency across the state. Researchers analysed ambulance registry data from Tamil Nadu’s 108 emergency response system between 2017 and 2024.

The work was led by P. Kandaswamy, a retired IPS officer and professor of practice in the Departments of Management Studies and Data Science and AI at IIT-M, along with Ashwin Prakash of Moody’s Analytics Private Limited, Bengaluru.

The findings point to measurable gains in how quickly ambulances reach patients and in outcomes for mothers and newborns after the pandemic period. The 108 system, which handles emergency medical transport statewide, played a central role in the improvements tracked by the team.