<span style="color: #222222;">In Tamil Nadu, the state health department is augmenting its fleet of ambulances. It is aimed at reducing the response time in attending to medical emergencies.<br />''<br />''For the ambulance service, the response time is the main yardstick to determine its quality. It shows the average time taken by an ambulance to reach a place from where a call for help has been received.<br />''<br />''The State Health Minister Dr Vijayabhaskar said the response time in Chennai has been reduced from 11 minutes to less than eight minutes. Talking to reporters in Pudukkottai yesterday, he said in rural areas, it will soon be reduced to below 14 minutes. The state earlier had 1005 ambulances under the 108-service.<br />''<br />''Recently 500 additional vehicles were purchased at a cost of nearly 104 crore rupees, and 120 of them are fitted with advanced life support systems. Another notable feature is that a smartphone app is being developed by the state health department for the public to track the movement of the ambulance. It will help reduce the anxieties of the callers and improve the service quality. </span><br />