Four ambulances to serve as mobile clinics for slums

The New Delhi Municipal Council will soon roll out four hospital vans to cater to people in slum clusters. The vans will also be able to double as ambulances to perform life-saving procedures in case of emergencies, said New Delhi Municipal Council officials.

The hospital vans will be GPS-enabled so that the vehicles’ operation can be tracked. These will also have doctors, nurses and paramedic staff besides being fitted with X-ray machines and ECG machines, among other equipment.

The total cost for setting up each van will come up to Rs 20 lakh, said a senior NDMC official.

With the project being carried out under the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS), council member and MP Meenakshi Lekhi said those outside the NDMC area will also benefit from the scheme.

The vans are likely to be rolled out by April-end.
The  vans will be mainly operational throughout the day in slum clusters. During the night, the council is planning to park the vehicles in residential areas.

“The mobile vans will be parked in residential areas at night. The idea is there should be a quick response team attending to patients, especially the elderly, in case an emergency arises. The medical team should be able to perform a life-saving procedure inside the ambulance, especially in case of a heart attack,” said Jalaj Shrivastava, Chairperson, NDMC.

However, the focus of the project otherwise would be to upgrade the available health facilities in the slum clusters. The vans will also function as a dispensaries with medicines being distributed in specific areas.

The staff in these vans will also be responsible to carry out immunisation drives as per the guidelines of the state Health Department.

“The idea is to reach out to the impoverished. These will come to aid for people who cannot reach the hospital when the need arises. When there is an outbreak of a disease in a particular condition, the doctors will have the source of the disease, for example the poor water supply in case of diarrhoea,” said Lekhi.

The MP has not ruled out a tie-up with the Delhi government for the running cost of the vans, like buying consumables or doctors’ salaries.
DH News Service