FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Every Second Counts: New Book Explores the Birth and Growth of the Largest Emergency Service Providers in the World
ACCESS Health International and Tethys, an imprint of Yatra Books, launch the book at the
Jaipur Literature Festival in India
(New York, USA – January 28, 2018) Emergency medical response systems are a critical component of any nation’s healthcare system. Minutes and seconds can mean the difference between life or death. In his latest book, Every Second Counts, renowned scientist, businessman, and philanthropist William A. Haseltine tells the story of the largest emergency services provider in the world, providing medical, police, and fire emergency services.
The Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI) is a not for profit institute launched in 2005 in a single state in India, Andhra Pradesh. Today, it operates in seventeen Indian states and territories and serves a population of more than seven hundred million. Users call into a free emergency 108 telephone number, which provides integrated medical, police, and fire emergency services. Each day, the EMRI 108 emergency system receives one hundred and fifty thousand calls and responds to almost twenty five thousand emergencies. A single call center can provide service for up to fifty million people at a cost of $0.25 USD per person per year.
The service is free to the user and costs the provider less than $15 USD per emergency, less than one percent of what an emergency call costs in the United States.
The EMRI 108 system has served as a model for other not for profit and for profit organizations who provide similar services in other Indian states. Virtually the entire country is now covered by the service.
“What the government of India has achieved in partnership with EMRI is nothing short of groundbreaking,” said William Haseltine. “I believe that the EMRI 108 services offer a model of efficiency and quality that all countries should emulate. The EMRI story proves that every government, with the right intentions and partnerships, can provide universal access to high quality and affordable care. It is my hope that this book provides a manual for policymakers and providers to achieve that goal medical care and other services including the delivery of high quality primary healthcare.”
Dr. Haseltine is the founder, chair, and president of ACCESS Health International, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring that all people no matter where they live, no matter what their age, have the right to access high quality and affordable healthcare and to lead healthy and productive lives. Every Second Counts is one in a series of books written by the organization to showcase outstanding examples of success.
In addition to being the largest emergency services provider in the world, EMRI also represents one of the largest public private partnerships. Central and state governments in India share the entire cost but the service is provided by EMRI and other not for profit and for profit providing similar services. Every Second Counts is an inspiring story of political leadership, private sector engagement, and public access to care. The book is an important read for policymakers, business leaders, and healthcare leaders who care about providing high quality care at an affordable cost to all those in need.
The book launch takes place on Sunday, January 28 at the Jaipur Literature Festival. It is available for preorder on Amazon.com and at accessh.org/every-second-counts.
About the Author:
William A. Haseltine, PhD, is the chair and president of ACCESS Health International, a nonprofit organization he cofounded in 2007. Dr. Haseltine has an active career in both science and business. He was a professor at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health from 1976 to 1993, where he was founder and the chair of two academic research departments, the Division of Biochemical Pharmacology and the Division of Human Retrovirology. He is well known for his pioneering work on cancer, HIV/AIDS, and genomics. He has authored more than two hundred manuscripts in peer reviewed journals and is the author of several books, including Affordable Excellence: The Singapore Healthcare Story.
About ACCESS Health International:
ACCESS Health is an international think tank, advisory group, and implementation partner working to improve access to high quality and affordable healthcare. The organization currently operates across three continents. ACCESS Health country offices serve as advisors and knowledge partners to the public and private sector and work alongside public and private organization to implement health related policies and programs.
About Tethys:
Tethys, an imprint of Yatra Books, aims to reach out to audiences across the world, beyond the limitation of language, to address issues that impact our daily lives. Tethys evokes the continuity of knowledge traditions, just as the scope of our special publishing projects encompasses a range of ideas and disciplines across continents and cultures.
About Yatra Books:
Yatra Books was founded by Namita Gokhale, Neeta Gupta and Shuchita Mital in January 2005. Yatra is a multilingual publishing company specializing in original creative writing and high quality translations in English, Hindi and Indian languages.