Providing healthcare to everyone including those who are in remote areas is the priority of all the Governments. Jharkhand too is doing this and for this the State is going to start its first boat ambulance service.

This service will start from Sahibganj district in the coming week and will help more than two lakh people residing in the Diara area – a stretch of land which is situated near the Ganga River.At present those who fall sick in Diara area have to depend on boat to cross the Ganga to reach a hospital.

Talking to PTI, Ram Niwas Yadav, the Deputy Commissioner of Sahibganj said: “Many panchayats are located across the river in Diara area. During monsoon, people living along the waterbody suffer due to the submergence of the area. The area almost becomes inaccessible. Several health programmes, including immunisation, come to a halt in the area during monsoon. So, we decided to introduce a boat ambulance to provide health services to them.”

The two boats have been bought by the District Mineral Foundation Trust and the cost of each of them is Rs29.17 lakhs. With the inclusion of other facilities in the ambulance like oxygen cylinder, ECG equipment, cabin for patients, laboratory technician and others, the cost becomes Rs.48 lakhs.

The ambulance can carry six people.

The service will commence from May 15 and one ambulance will be used in Rajmahal area while the other in Sahibganj area.

Apart from catering to the needs of the local people, the boat ambulances would also be used to ferry patients to Purnia in Bihar and Malda in West Bengal in case of emergency.

The DC informed that the operation and maintenance of these boats for the next two years will be taken care of by the agency which has bought it. Even the driver and lab technician have been made available by the agency.

The boat will have first aid, ECG, oxygen inhaler, flow meter in the boat ambulance. It will have a global positioning system, fire extinguishers and masthead lights for night travel.

The State Government had recently launched air ambulance service from Ranchi.