Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao today flagged off a fleet of 466 new emergency service vehicles at People's Plaza.
Of the 466 vehicles, 204 will belong to the 108 ambulance service, 228 will be Amma Vodi transport vehicles and 34 will be free hearse vehicles (intended to help the poor who lack money for transporting the bodies of their relatives who die in government hospitals back to their homes).
Ministers Harish Rao and Mahmood Ali, MLC Vani Devi, MLA Danam Nagender and Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari participated in the program.
Later the Chief Minister left for a one-day tour of Maharashtra.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Health T Harish Rao said that Telangana was now a role model for other States in the health sector.
Prior to 2014, only 30% of institutional deliveries in Telangana took place in government hospitals, but now 70% of births were taking place in government hospitals due to the huge improvement in facilities by the State government, Rao claimed.
The minister also said that the salaries of the 108 service employees would be increased, and that the modalities would be announced soon.
He also said that the State government had decided to give smartphones to all the Asha workers working across the State, and it would also bear the monthly mobile bills.
Rao also asserted that the welfare schemes were not being just implemented for votes in elections.