Residents of three hamlets on islands in the Sevli reservoir will no longer have to wait for a fishing boat in an emergency. The district has introduced a water ambulance: a motorboat fitted with a stretcher, oxygen cylinders, a first-aid kit and a trained paramedic.
During the monsoon, when the causeway to the islands floods, the hamlets are reachable only by boat. Residents say patients have been carried in fishing boats, sometimes at night, to reach the road on the other side.
"Last year my mother had a heart problem at midnight," said Laxman Bhil, who lives on the largest island. "We waited an hour for a boat. With this ambulance, someone will come."
How it works
- Residents call the regular ambulance helpline and say they are on the islands.
- The control room alerts the boat crew, who are stationed at the jetty round the clock.
- A road ambulance waits at the jetty to take the patient to the community health centre.
The boat has a crew of two and a paramedic. Health officials have trained two women from each hamlet in first aid, so that someone can help until the boat arrives.
District officials said the service would run all year, not just in the monsoon, and that response times would be published every month.
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