Two-wheelers to soon help during medical emergencies

NEW DELHI: Now new categories of two-wheelers will be on Indian roads to ply as ambulances to provide immediate medical aid and to carry goods or cargo.
Both these vehicles will be fitted with light weight boxes for goods carriage. The apex recommendatory body for vehicle specifications - Central Motor Vehicles Rules-Technical Standing Committee (CMVR-TSC) – recently cleared the proposal to allow such vehicles to ply.
According to sources, two-wheeler goods vehicles will have to be 550 mm long and the allowed width will be 510 mm and the weight of each box would be 30 kg. “There is greater need for such vehicles to transport smaller items. Once there will be a code and specialized vehicles, the enforcement agencies can easily catch the violators. There will be greater clarity,” said an official.
The committee also put its stamp on the two-wheeler ambulance something that the ministry had floated in January 2013. The focus of introducing this type of ambulance is to provide emergency medical care to people in congested areas, by-lanes and crowded zones where other ambulances cannot reach. This category of ambulance is popular in countries including United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Sweden which can provide first-aid, but don’t transport patients.
Keeping in mind the different needs, there will be four categories of ambulances including this one to ensure that ambulances are equipped with necessary gadgets and trained manpower to take care of patients during transit to hospitals.
The process to come out with an ambulance code had started during about two years ago in order to ensure that retrofitted and non-standard vehicles such as vans are not used to ferry passengers. “Now we are at the final stage and the notification will be out in the next few months,” a road transport ministry official said.
At present, majority of ambulances have no proper storage facility, non-ambulatory ventilator support system and other necessary features.