The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has mandated that ambulances on its projects must reach crash sites within 10 minutes when incidents occur within 10 km of toll booths, and will impose a penalty of Rs 10,000 for each delay. The authority has set a one-hour limit for accident victims to reach the nearest hospital after an emergency ticket is accepted, with Rs 10,000 charged for delays. Compliance will be monitored through GPS data and the Intelligent Medical Software Care dashboard (IMS Care dashboard).

Under the circular ambulance movement after an emergency ticket is accepted must commence in less than two minutes, with movement verified via GPS and the IMS Care dashboard. An additional penalty of Rs 5,000 will apply for every extra minute or part thereof. The authority cited findings by the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety and a performance audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India that highlighted delays.

Contractors must fit AIS-140-compliant GPS devices on on-road units and will face a penalty of Rs 2,500 per day for non-compliance, while ambulances must remain visible on the IMS Care dashboard at all times under the same daily penalty. The rejection of any emergency ticket by an on-road unit will attract Rs 10,000 per incident and deficiencies found at inspection will incur Rs 10,000 per inspection. The measures aim to ensure availability of equipment, medicines and staff as required by contracts.

Ambulances have been instructed to conduct a daily dry run or mock drill and to travel at least five km every 24 hours, with one day exempted if attending an accident and total movement that day exceeds five km. Prof Venkatesh Balasubramanian, head of the Centre of Excellence for Road Safety at IIT Madras, welcomed the 10-minute target as a step while urging response times be reduced. He recommended data driven deployment, dynamic base adjustments according to accident patterns and mapping of trauma facilities so hospitals are prepared to handle specific injuries, citing models tested in Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.