Bhubaneswar: In what would give a fillip to the emergency health services delivery in remote pockets of Malkangiri district, the state government will launch two 108 boat ambulances in the southern district, Saturday.
The new pair of ambulances will be flagged off at Telbei ghat under Chitrakonda block, close to Swabhiman Anchal of the southern district. The two boats will be stationed at jetties at Kunturpadar and Orapadar on the Sileru river waters.
“The boat ambulances will be inaugurated in Malkangiri district Saturday. Earlier, two such boats were launched in Kendrapara district. Now, we have four operational boat ambulances. The two new ambulances will help around 20,000 people living in nearby areas to access medical services in a shorter span of time during emergencies,” said Sabyasachi Biswal, State Head of Ziqitza Healthcare Pvt Ltd which manages the operations of 108 ambulances.
The boat ambulances would offer first aid, medicines and infrastructure which are available in any other ambulances. The floating ambulance also carries delivery kit, splints for handling accident patients, BP machine, stethoscope, cardiac shock machine and all other possible first-aid medicines, suction machine, anti-venom drugs, saline, injections and others.
A driver, an assistant, a paramedic staff and a boat assistant have been provided for each ambulance to serve the people in need. The boat ambulance has been connected with the 108 ambulance service which could be accessed by dialing the helpline number being controlled from the call centre at Bhubaneswar.
After receiving the call, the call centre employees would inform the driver and provide them the location and contact numbers of the patient and their caregivers. The boat ambulance has been given GPS and fitted with advanced motors for a high speed travel on river waters.
The move is likely to aid in medical service delivery of several remote villages where reaching the nearest health centre via road takes a lot of time.