India, ambulance boats to transport COVID-19 patients
From now, ambulance boats will be deployed to transport and treat COVID-19 patients in Kerala, India.
Kerala is recovering from the severe floods that swept the state this August. This is a serious issue for people in common times, without thinking that theses days a pandemic is still in action. That’s why the Director of the State Transport Department allowed that converted ambulance boats can be used to transport and treat COVID-19 patients.
Conversion of boats into ambulance boats to easily deliver COVID-19 patients
Recently, they converted boats into ambulances to save lives. Kerala deployed two 24-hour rescue boats to provide emergency care: one specifically for COVID-19 patients and the other for general health concerns and emergencies.
Shaji V Nair, the Director of the State Water Transport Department, said that there are many who live in the interior regions and depend on boats to reach hospitals. Once the regular boats stop service at 10pm, they have no other way to venture out. These boats must have saved several hundreds of lives in the past few months.
How can ambulance boats positively impact on Indian communities?
The Director also mentioned that more than 25,000 people at the Perumbalam Island of Alappuzha are still struggling without public transport means. These ambulance boats served the purpose and have proven to be very helpful in such areas.
As of now, five ambulance boats are operating in Alappuzha, Panavally, Vaikkom, Muhamma and Ernakulam, according to local media. As soon as the patients get to the nearest piece of land, they are moved to regular ambulances and taken to the hospital for medical aid.
Of course, all the personnel involved in this process of delivery through ambulance boats, in case of COVID-19 patient transportation, take the necessary safety precautions like wearing PPE kits, masks and spraying disinfectants.