Delhi: 700 lives saved due to bike ambulance project, plans afoot for expansion

New Delhi: The bike ambulance project in east Delhi has helped "save 700 lives" since its launch in February and plans are afoot to expand the service across the national capital, the Delhi government said recently

In a statement, the AAP government said the project has received an "overwhelmingly positive response" from residents. Chief Minister tweeted, "I am happy that patients living in narrow bylanes of Delhi are also getting health facilities through bike ambulances. A plan is underway to expand this service to entire Delhi." The pilot project has shown "excellent results," he was quoted as saying in the government statement. "Seven-hundred lives were saved in east Delhi in the last few months the bike ambulances have been operational," the government claimed.

The AAP government had in February flagged off 16 bike ambulances, known as First Responder Vehicles (FRVs), in a district in east Delhi on pilot basis. The facilities available in an FRV include a portable oxygen cylinder, a first-aid kit and dressing materials, air-splints, foldable transfer sheets, Ambu bags, glucometer, pulse oxymeter, a portable manual suction machine, a GPS device and a communication device. According to a government statement, these FRVs are manned by trained ambulance manpower.

"These FRVs can reach streets and areas in high traffic zones and around JJ clusters. They are equipped to give primary and emergency care so that organs of the patients are not damaged and it helps the patient to stabilise until the ambulance arrives," it said. The service has received an overwhelmingly positive response from the residents of Delhi. It is targeted to give last-mile connectivity to emergency healthcare services to people who live in congested areas, where ambulances could not enter in the past, the statement said.

"A large number of people in Delhi live in unauthorised colonies or other such areas where streets are very narrow. I was very concerned about how to provide better emergency healthcare to the people living in these colonies. With this in mind, the Bike Ambulance service was launched. Delhi government is planning to extend the service to the entire city," he was quoted as saying in the statement.

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