Parademic Narender Singh Karayat and ambulance driver Nachhatar Singh. (Express Photo)

A 25-year-old paramedic in the 112-emergency response ambulance, Narender Singh Karayat keeps a record of the mobile phone numbers of every patient whom he and his partner in the task, ambulance driver Nachhatar Singh, pick up from and drop at the hospital. In the days following the commute, Narender contacts the patient’s kin at least twice to enquire about the patient’s medical reports and confirm if the patient was COVID-19 positive or negative.

“I and our driver, Nachhatar Singh, are the first ones who come in contact with the patient as we drop them to the hospital. There is always a fear among us regarding contracting COVID-19. We have to adopt all precautions, including confirming about the illness later, as many patients lie about their medical issues while summoning the ambulance. A resident of Chandigarh’s Sector 30 told the helpline that he was suffering from kidney stone, however, later the medical team said that he had some other symptoms COVID-19 as well and then, the ride was cancelled,” says Narender, who is deployed at the Sector 26 dispensary.

Narender and Nachhatar work for six hours in their afternoon shift, from 2 pm to 8 pm. One of the 48 paramedics in Chandigarh, Narender is deployed with the 108 emergency ambulance and also attends the call from the Emergency Control Room (112). Rushing patients to the hospital, he notes down their credentials on a smart tab provided to the paramedics by the government.

Speaking to Indian Express, Narender says, “The frequency of calls of ill persons have increased after the coronavirus outbreak. Earlier, we recieved 7-8 calls during a day. These calls also included roads accident cases. However, now, we attend to at least 18-20 calls every day, most of them seeking a transit from their homes to a hospital.”

He further says, “We help the patient to get in the ambulance and come in their direct contact. There is always a fear that the patient can be a COVID-19 patient, however, we have not been provided with any personal protective equipment (PPE), apart from gloves and head cover. As a precaution, Nachhatar and I have purchased N 95 masks and goggles from our own money.”

Nachhatar Singh adds, “We are doing our duty, irrespective of the present scenario. We keep hoping that the patients we ferry in our ambulance, do not test coronavirus positive, otherwise, by the time their reports come, we may have already contracted the virus.”