THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the rapid rise in the number of Covid patients under home isolation and quarantine, the need for effective transportation to ferry them to and from the hospital is also increasing. Though the city corporation has come up with a plan to mobilise 500 autorickshaws, the trade unions and autorickshaw drivers have given it a cold-shoulder.
According to sources, the unions have put forth more demands apart from the incentives offered by the civic body. It’s been more than five days since the corporation came up with the plan to rope in autorickshaws — five each from all wards. According to officials, only a small section of the drivers have expressed willingness to be part of the initiative.
K Jayamohan, district secretary of CITU, said the auto drivers are apprehensive about the initiative. “Many of them are demanding health insurance because of the risks involved. Also, we cannot force those who don’t show interest. We are still in the process of drawing up the list of willing drivers but some of them want more clarity about the incentives offered by the civic body. More people will join the initiative soon and more negotiations will be held in the coming days,” said Jayamohan.
NEW SOLUTIONS
As hiring autorickshaws was impractical, the civic body has brought in three ambulances and started their operations from Monday. “We were able to implement almost every other decision made to combat the crisis. The helpdesk is operational and we are trying to link our services with the district administration. Coordination with the district war room is key as they have all the information on hospital bed availability. Our only demand is that the vehicles would be strictly used for patients within the corporation limits,” said an official. Since the launch, the civic body’s helpdesk has been flooded with calls from people in distress.
“We are receiving an average of 200 to 250 calls daily and most of them are about the vaccination drive. Some are about food and medicine. We are now planning to use school buses for ferrying patients and medical teams. The problem is that many of them are lying unused with batteries down. We have requested the school authorities to spare the vehicles for Covid-related activities,” said the official.
Consumerfed to help
The civic body has decided to tie up with Consumerfed and Triveni Institute of Pharmacy to deliver medicine and groceries for the citizens. “Consumerfed has enough outlets to cover the corporation area and they are ready to deliver orders worth D500 or more,” said the official.