BENGALURU: In light of people facing hardship to get taxis and ambulances during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, an umbrella organisation of over 60 resident welfare organisations in Kanakapura Road has decided to aid its residents. It will offer a car free of cost to help residents reach anywhere for treatment as well as revive its popular ambulance service it ran when the pandemic broke out last year.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, Abdul Aleem, president of ‘Changemakers of Kanakapura Road’ said, “With Covid cases rising, we want to help out the nearly 30,000 residents who are our members. We have arranged for an Innova car through Sathya Sai Tourist service. Our group will bear the diesel and driver charges.”
Aleem said that when people use their own car to ferry their Covid-positive family members, there is a big risk to others using it. “We want to offer this alternative to them. We will ensure the vehicle is fully sanitised,” he said.
A popular ambulance service the group ran last year and stopped two months ago, will be restarted in a week. “It costs us around Rs 2.4 lakh to maintain the vehicle supplied by J K Ambulance. We had collected Rs 60 per family for fuel and driver costs last time and plan to repeat it. We have three medical staffers available 24x7 and two drivers to run the ambulance,” he said.
A ventilator, suction apparatus, cardiac monitor, oxygen cylinder and infusion pumps are the equipments in the ambulance. “There is a back-up arrangement too with our provider so that if there is an emergency and someone has booked this ambulance, another one can be supplied, he added.