Deoghar district administration rolled out five bike ambulances on Saturday to ferry Covid-19 patients to hospitals and also provide medical help for people living in remote areas where ambulances can't reach due to various geographical challenges.
Deputy commissioner Manjunath Bhajantri said the move was unddertaken in the light of a limited fleet of ambulances in the district. “We flagged off five bike ambulances today and more will be added in the coming days,” he said, adding that anyone can contact the district administration helplines to avail of the service.
Deoghar district administration has set up separate helplines, including numbers of the district control room (9031498011/8580271236), ambulance (108/9262291244) and oxygen (9973854796/9931185427).
Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Bhajantri said the bike ambulances would operate in both rural and urban areas. “Many rural areas in the district don’t have connectivity for ambulances but two wheelers can reach quickly, which can reduce the response time in case of urgency. Similarly, in urban areas too, there are many places which are very narrow and four-wheelers can’t get in. The idea is to reach with medical help in the least possible time in those places,” he said.
He said the bike ambulances will have basic medicines and facilities to at least bring a patient to the nearest point of assistance. “Bike ambulance drivers will be wearing safety gear like PPE kits,” he said.
Deoghar is perhaps the first district to re-introduce bike ambulances _ an idea that debuted in Jharkhand a couple of years ago _ for the management of the pandemic.
An official of the district health department said the initiative should be of help when the state was going through a vicious second wave with cases spiralling in rural areas. “Such is the unpredictability of the virus that patients are turning serious suddenly. Timely medical help can make a difference,” he said.
As per last night’s official bulletin, Deoghar currently has close to 1,500 active cases out of 9,437 total cases since the outbreak of the virus last year. As many as 94 people have died so far.
