India, Aug. 27 -- Last month, an ambulance took 30 minutes to reach a society that was just 4-kilometres away from Marengo Asia Hospital on Golf Extension Road, twice the recommended response time. This was not a one-time incident. According to doctors and ambulance drivers in Gurugram, response vehicles take nearly double the time it should take to cover a certain distance, wasting crucial time in medical emergencies.

"Distance is not an issue in Gurugram. It is the bad road conditions and traffic congestion," said Dr Salil Malik, the head of emergency medicine at the Sushant Lok II Hospital.

The recommended ambulance response time in medical emergencies is 10 minutes in busy urban areas, under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare...