To provide major relief to residents of inaccessible areas, the Tamil Nadu government is set to introduce 25 bike ambulances. These cycle ambulances will serve remote and hard-to-reach non-motorable hamlets in tribal or hilly areas through existing EMRI services in 10 districts to improve access to healthcare in remote habitations in the state.

The government has allocated around Rs 1.60 crore to the director of the National Health Mission, Tamil Nadu, to run and operationalize the service, the government order (GO) dated November 6 said.

Bicycle ambulance to serve as a supply

“The new service will deploy 25 specially equipped cycle ambulances as feeder units to the existing network of ‘108 ambulances (1,353 numbers)’. These bikes will fill the last mile healthcare gap, provide emergency first aid services, patient stabilization and rapid assistance. transportation to higher level care,” said a press release released Thursday.

Each bike to serve 25 locations

The statement further said that the services to be provided under this new venture will include maternal and child health, including antenatal care support, check-ups, emergency medical care and transfers to health facilities. health. According to the release, each of these cycle ambulances will serve 25 selected remote villages and is equipped with GPS tracking for real-time fleet management and efficient allocation of interventions.

(With PTI inputs)

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