22 Aapli buses to ferry Covid patients to hosps

Nagpur: Despite having 894 registered ambulances, the city is facing acute shortage of medical vehicles to ferry Covid-19 patients even as over 4,000 cases are being reported daily for the last few days.
To tackle this problem, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has decided to convert 22 Aapli buses into ambulances with oxygen facility. Two such buses will be deployed in each of the 10 zones.
According to a senior official from NMC’s transport department, these buses will be manned by paramedical staff. The buses will have basic oxygen facility with first aid kits. “They will be under the control of zonal medical officers of NMC,” he said.
“These “semi-ambulances” will be used to ferry home isolated Covid-19 patients or those who have only mild infection, to Covid-19 care centres or dedicated hospitals,” the officer said.
In August last year too, when the city witnessed a spike in Covid-19 cases, the NMC had pressed six such ambulances into service. At that time, the buses only had first aid kits.
The officer said the ‘bus cum ambulance’ service will be provided to those who can ensure there is a confirmed bed in the hospital they want to get admitted.
Currently, out of the 11 ambulances available in ‘108’ services, most are provided for Covid-19 patients. These ambulances attend to an average 37 patients daily.
According to the officer, the bus cum ambulance service will somewhat reduce the pressure on dedicated Covid-19 ambulances and private ambulances “which charge exorbitant fares”.
Aapli Bus, which caters to 1.50 lakh commuters in city and neighbouring places of the district, has a fleet of over 400 buses.
The buses were also used for ferrying emergency and essential services staff after the lockdown which was enforced in March last year. Initially, the buses were also used to shift citizens from city’s hotspot areas to quarantine centres.
Besides, 16 minibuses have already been converted into hearse vans and 28 buses are on Covid-19 related emergency duties.
“Nagpur is fighting a war against Covid-19. NMC’s Aapli bus service is playing a major role in it by extending service to patients,” the officer said.