Sukmi, who is a Chhatisgarh resident, residing in a village deep in the jungles had her water broke when she was eight month pregnant. She was then in an area where four wheelers cannot reach and thus cannot take her to the medical centre nearby. What was the option left? You might be thinking she would have delivered her baby at her place, but no. There was something which came to the rescue-the motorcycle ambulance. This new ambulance was at her help and she delivered a beautiful girl child after reaching the hospital in time. Now what’s that?
The motorcycle-ambulance is a new concept in India that is saving lives in remote regions where people had been dying because they could not make it to the hospitals on time. Sukmi and her baby also would have suffered and would not have survived if the motorcycle ambulance would not have reached just in time. The motorcycle-ambulance that came to rescue of the two took them immediately to the nearby hospital of the Narayanpur district and thus saved the precious lives.
Sukmi is not the first case, nor an exception. The motorcycle-ambulance has previously saved lives of more than 200 pregnant women in and around the state and has helped to lower the graph of death of women due to pregnancy and also has saved of many infants who would have died otherwise.
The concept of motorcycle ambulance has been adopted from South African countries which face a similar problem. This is a modified motorcycle which has an attached side-carriage which is further customised for the comfort of the patient.
Health specialist at UNICEF, Ajay Trakroo said, “The motorcycle-ambulance project was initiated last year and supported by the UNICEF in collaboration with an NGO, Saathi Samaj Sevi Sanstha, and the Health Department of the state government.”
“Pregnant women are our main focus in the area as mortality rate is high in this conflict bound region of Chhattisgarh. With this experiment we are trying to provide necessary health care to the pregnant women of this Maoist-affected tribal and hard-to-reach forest area,” Trakroo informed.
He said, “The motorcycle ambulance’s USP is that it can be operated in hard to reach areas. It is a referral ambulance that means it only ferries the patient to the hospital.”
“Though 108 ambulance services operate in Narayanpur, these cannot reach deep into the forest or hilly terrain where many villages are situated. This is where the motorcycle ambulance plays a vital role. We will bring 10 more motorcycle ambulances in a few months,” Trakroo said.
“We are focusing on increasing the power of the motorcycle and the stability of the ambulance with help of NIT,” Trakroo added. The ambulance costs Rs 1.7 lakh and Rs 15,000 per month is investment to keep it running.
Founding member of Saathi NGO, Bhupesh Tiwari says, “Before the motorcycle ambulance was introduced cases of unorganised delivery were high and mothers used to die often due to lack of proper treatment.The motorcycle-ambulance has successfully ferried over 300 patients to the hospitals from “adverse areas”, of whom 80 per cent are pregnant women.”
“After the inception of this project the number of organised deliveries has increased in this conflict bound region. It will certainly improve the infant as well as maternal mortality rate in the region,” Tiwari said.
