Rajasthan Chief Secretary V. Srinivas on Saturday, 3 October chaired a review of the '104 Janani Express' ambulance service at the Government Secretariat, Jaipur, directing officials to reinforce arrangements for transporting pregnant women — especially those with high-risk pregnancies — to hospitals in a timely manner. The review underscores the state government's push to close gaps in maternal healthcare logistics across Rajasthan.

Key Directives from the Review

Chief Secretary Srinivas stressed the need for tighter coordination between maternal healthcare services and the Janani Express network to ensure ambulances reach women during emergencies without delay. He instructed officials to regularly assess ambulance utilisation at the individual vehicle level and to identify underperforming areas using field reports.

Srinivas also called for strengthening local-level operational arrangements so that available ambulances are deployed more efficiently. He directed a detailed review of the Janani Express call centre's day-to-day functioning — covering the full workflow from receiving distress calls to dispatching vehicles — and asked that call records be linked with monthly reports for scrutiny at the level of the Director of Reproductive and Child Health.

Scale of the Service

Mission Director of the National Health Mission (NHM), Jogaram, told the meeting that 600 ambulances are currently deployed under the Janani Express network across Rajasthan. According to data presented at the meeting, the service has served 18,86,048 beneficiaries between January 2021 and 10 December 2025. The service is presently operated through the Rajasthan Medicare Relief Society, and all 600 ambulances are expected to be fully operational by July 2026.

Future Management Under Discussion

Officials at the meeting also deliberated on options for restructuring the service's management model — including operating it through an open tender process or via a public sector undertaking — as part of forthcoming operational arrangements. No final decision on the model was announced at the meeting.

Who Attended

The meeting was attended by Gayatri A. Rathore, Chief Government Secretary of the Medical and Health, Family Welfare and Medical Education Department, along with representatives from the Finance Department, the Director of Public Health, the Additional Mission Director of NHM, the Director Finance, Project Director, Store Officer, State Nodal Officer, and other senior officials.

With all 600 ambulances targeted to be fully operational by mid-2026, the state's ability to translate these directives into measurable improvements in maternal health outcomes will be closely watched.