Yeoman’s work from 1k crew of 108 ambulance

Bhubaneswar: For 108 government ambulance driver Rudra Kumar Singh, rushing critical patients to hospitals is not uncommon as he has been his routine duty for the last several years. However, his duty at the Bahanaga train tragedy site on June 2 was fraught with more responsibility as every life was precious.
Rajesh Kumar Mohanty, another driver, too gauged the seriousness of the crisis situation as the whole world was shocked with the horrifying train accident. For around 1,000 crew, including drivers, helpers, emergency medical technicians, operation staff and others of the emergency ambulance service, it was the time to rise to the occasion.
“We have not stopped working from the evening on June 2 till June 5. I shifted not less than 100 injured passengers from the accident site to Soro community health centre on June 2,” Singh said.
Sanjay Kumar Jena, assistant operation manager (Balasore zone) of the ambulance service, said coordination and mobilisation of the ambulances at the accident site was a big challenge.
“We activated all our staff and engaged 229 ambulances at the accident site. The ambulances were brought from Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Angul, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack and Khurda. Patients were immediately shifted to different hospitals,” Jena said. He said the ambulances were equipped with advanced life support and basic life support.
Sabyasachi Biswal, the project head of Ziqitza Healthcare Limited (ZHL) that operated the government 108 ambulance service in the state, lauded the efforts of each and every crew for working like unsung heroes during the time of crisis. The state government said green corridors were created to hospitals where the injured passengers were shifted.