Rickshaw ambulances ready to make its way across Kochi from today
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Kochi: From today, Kochi will see autorickshaws plying as ambulance, equipped with all necessary provisions to carry COVID patients as an effort in association with the Cochin Corporation and the Auto Rickshaw Drivers Cooperative Society to deal with the ambulance shortage.
A fleet of autorickshaws have been modified for this purpose and it will carry COVID patients to the hospital and reach medicines to homes where COVID patients are quarantined. The rickshaw ambulance service will be operational around the clock and the service will be functioning with the eight rickshaws from today.
Necessary equipment an ambulance would normally convey including oxygen cabins, pulse oximeter and infrared thermometers would also be found with the rickshaw ambulances. Initially, the service will be made available for eight zones in the city where the number of COVID patients is high.
This service cooperation has been realised with the Auto Rickshaw Drivers Cooperative Society and as part of the Indo-German green mobility partnership – German Agency for International Cooperation. The GIZ is the technical and financial supporter of this project.
About 18 auto drivers, including a woman driver, have been given the training to operate the system in the rickshaw ambulance. The drivers got basic lessons on how to handle a patient with COVID and how to provide medical assistance, among other aspects.