CRPF offers bike-ambulance services to tribes of Maoist-hit Balaghat

Bhopal 12th September : The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has started a bike-ambulance service for tribals who live in remote forests of Maoist-ravaged Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh.

Medical teams will visit the sick as well as injured in the most remote areas of the district, which shares a border with the most abrasive Maoist district that is a victim of violence in the neighboring Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.The Commandant of the 123rd CRPF battalion Sudhir K.who introduced bicycle-ambulance service in Bastar region told that bikes were first provided some time ago to anti-Naxal patrols since four-wheelers were easy targets for ultras to track "As we know that many people living in dense and remote jungles are unable to access medical care, so we decided to utilize these bikes to provide medical assistance to those in need," Kumar added.He added that a field surgical team comprised of a doctor, a paramedic, and an assistant is part of the team of bike ambulances.

"They would travel to villages as part of the patrol or contacted by the villager in need.If required, these bicycle ambulances would transport patients to the hospitals," said the officer.

The initiative is also an important step in expanding the CRPFs civic engagement work, which is usually done to help locals by supplying household items to them with the funds of the government.pd/shb.