Tamil Nadu to roll out 25 bike ambulances in remote areas
Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Health Department is set to roll out 25 bike ambulances, with an allocation of Rs 1.60 crore for the project, aimed at enhancing healthcare access in remote areas.
Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian told IANS, “We are expecting bike ambulances to access remote terrains to help people in distress. These ambulances will be acting as feeder services to the 108 ambulance network.”
Tamil Nadu Health Department said that these bike ambulances aim to provide medical assistance in remote areas that are inaccessible to conventional four-wheel ambulances, acting as feeder services to the standard ambulance network.
The bike ambulances will operate in selected remote villages, equipped with GPS tracking for real-time fleet management and efficient response allocation.
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The department said that this initiative is expected to reach underserved tribal and remote areas across the state, enhancing healthcare accessibility where it is currently limited.
It added that this initial deployment will help assess the feasibility and practicality of bike ambulances for broader use.
According to an IANS report, In addition to emergency response, these bike ambulances will support maternal and child health services in difficult-to-reach areas, providing assistance for ante-natal care, labour, safe transport for deliveries, and child health check-ups.
The primary goal of the initiative is to bridge last-mile healthcare gaps, delivering timely first-response care, patient stabilisation, and transport to higher-level medical facilities in emergencies.
Equipped for both medical and accident-related emergencies, these bike ambulances enable rapid patient transfer to healthcare facilities, especially in rugged terrains where traditional ambulance services may be unavailable.
Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported that Health Minister Ma Subramanian announced that the century-old buildings at Srirangam Government Hospital will be demolished to make way for a new facility aimed at enhancing healthcare services. This decision follows a surprise inspection by the Minister, during which he noted the underutilization of the existing structures.
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