BHAWANIPATNA : In hilly terrains where Government ambulance service fails to reach needy patients, the ‘Auto Bike Ambulances’ have come as a bright spot in the ailing healthcare scenario.
Last month, the Chief Minister dedicated three auto bike ambulances in Lanjigarh and Thuamul Rampur block __ two tribal populated hilly pockets where ambulances cannot reach villages.
While two of these bike ambulances are operating in Thuamul Rampur and Saisurni of Thuamul Rampur block, one is functional in Bankakutru village of Lanjigarh block. In Thuamul Rampur block, people residing in inaccessible gram panchayats such as Nakrundi, Kerpai, Badchatrang and Odri and Lakhbaheli, Malijuang, Bijepur and Malipada of Lanjigarh block are benefiting from the service.
Apart from ferrying pregnant women and ailing children to the hospitals, the ambulances also come to the aid of accident victims by taking them to the nearest health centres, said District Programme Manager of National Health Mission, Abani Ranjan Mohapatra.
He added that the ambulance drivers have been directed to provide their mobile numbers to the pregnant women so that they can be easily contacted during emergency. “In fact, with launching of auto bike ambulances, the number of institutional delivery cases has gone up. Considering the demand for this service, the district administration has decided to introduce four more auto bike ambulances in inaccessible pockets of the district,” he said.
Kalahandi Collector Brundha D has released `2. 91 lakh from the corpus fund and the rest `3 lakh has been sanctioned by the Western Odisha Development Council for the service. The ambulances are being managed on public-private partnership mode and three NGOs have been engaged by the district administration for the purpose.