Crowded areas to get medical help on 2 wheels

Gurgaon: Two urban flu clinics will soon be set up in Dundahera and Sikanderpur to screen people for communicable and non-communicable diseases. Both the facilities will be provided with a bike ambulance each.
Explaining the reason why Dundahera and Sikanderpur have been selected, health officials said that both the areas are densely populated and have narrow lanes, and as a result crucial time is often wasted during a medical emergency.
The bikes, they said, would make it easier for doctors to reach people living in these crowded areas.
The service is also expected to help the administration and the health department zoom in on people with influenza-like illness (ILI) or severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) symptoms, which may aid the timely detection and reporting of Covid-19 cases.
Officials said that the bike ambulances and flu clinics will help bridge the gap between patients and healthcare access in the city.
“We will provide OPD services in the urban flu clinics, which will be functional within a week. Two bike ambulances will be deployed in both the clinics. Also, a doctor will be assigned to each medical unit,” said Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer (CMO), Gurgaon.
A helpline is expected to be put in place soon for this purpose. Once information about a patient in an area is received, a doctor will reach out to him or her.
The bike ambulances, which have been donated by a private firm to the department and will be driven by skilled riders, will have side-carriages, first-aid kits, emergency medicines and portable oxygen cylinders. Each flu clinic will have a consultation chamber, examination room, sample collection point and a pharmacy.
If the doctor sees the need to move the patient to the flu clinic for further checks, or a hospital if the case is more serious, the person would then be taken to a place where a general ambulance awaits to transport him or her to the hospital.
The aim, according to the health department, is to provide basic treatment to patients within the golden hour before they can be shifted to a bigger medical facility.
Officials said this is a pilot project and similar flu clinics could be set up in other parts of the city, depending on the residents’ response.
Early last year, the Delhi government had launched the motorcycle ambulance service in the city, which has since provided emergency assistance in congested areas and jhuggi clusters, significantly cutting response time.