Jharkhand: Bike ambulances debut in Deoghar villages to ferry Covid patients

RANCHI: In a first, Deoghar district administration on Saturday rolled out five bike ambulances to wheel-in medical help or ferry Covid-19 patients to hospitals from hard-to-reach areas where normal ambulances cannot visit. Deputy commissioner Manjunath Bhajantri along with SP Anjani Kumar Sinha jointly flagged off the new facility from the district collectorate building.
Bhajantri said the ambulances will be used in rural and urban areas in the temple town as per requirement. “Extending medical help in minimum time is an important aspect of Covid management at a time when the second wave is killing more people. Hence, we thought of this idea to address the geographical challenges of a few areas and also address issues of ambulance shortage,” he said.
While many rural areas pose mobility challenges for ambulances due to improper roads, the cluttered localities and narrow by-lanes in the urban pockets make it difficult for four-wheelers, he explained.
Each of the five bike ambulances will be equipped with necessary gadgets and have been customised to carry patients. Anyone requiring ambulance service can call at 108 or 9262291244, said officials.
The concept of bike ambulance isn’t new to Jharkhand. A few years ago during ex-chief minister Raghubar Das’s regime, they were introduced for naxal-infested areas. However, it is for the first time that a district is using for Covid help.
Deoghar DPRO Ravi Kumar further informed over phone that these bike ambulances were donated to the administration by Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) in the past which were put to use during the month-long Shravani mela. However, they were lying unused currently as the religious congregation didn’t take place last year due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
“Hence, senior officials have now decided to use them for Covid duty as a part of our ongoing efforts for effective Covid control in the district,” he said, adding that these ambulances will be equipped with all necessary equipment to address exigencies so that help can reach patients in the least possible time.
Notably, as the virus is spreading into rural Jharkhand, the state government is now focusing on various measures to curb the transmission chain and reverse the trend of infection. Besides trying to augment medical infrastructure, different districts are also working out innovative measures to create awareness towards Covid appropriate behaviour and increase vaccine coverage. Last week, Khunti and Jamtara roped in traditional village heelers (quacks) for early identification of suspected Covid patients. Gumla too adopted similar steps a few days ago.