The service will cover 3 districts in Madhya Pradesh. (Representational)
A 'boat ambulance' initiative has been started with the aim to provide better health services to tribal population living on the banks of Narmada river in the districts of Dhar, Alirajpur and Barwani in Madhya Pradesh.
The boat ambulance will run between hilly regions of Vindhyachal and Satpura to ensure that the tribal people living on the banks of Narmada in these districts can get the emergency health facilities.
The initiative has been started by an organisation Narmada Samagra Nyas and it has been working continuously for the last 15 years to provide health, education, and agriculture related services. The aim of the organisation is to provide better health services to every person.
Speaking to ANI, Madhya Pradesh cabinet minister Rajvardhan Singh Dattigaon said, "Narmada Samagra Nyas has done good work. I would like to remember the efforts of former BJP Rajya Sabha MP late Anil Kumar Dave who provided the inspiraton to continue with the work. He started this initiative in 2011 and at that time the villagers feared it won't succeed but it succeeded and villagers have received its benefit."
"Now, this new boat ambulance is more advanced, it has 1.5 times more space. The ambulance is powered by a petrol engine of 40 HP and it will run silently. The ambulance will cover about 100 km radius in a week according to its route map. There will be a resident doctor in it, essential life saving services will be provided and its route of five days will also be pre-planned," he added.
The administration has been asked that the people should be informed about the ambulance. All the necessary support, including the government team which include, Anganwadi workers, ASHA workers, 108 ambulances, will be given to them, the minister said.
He added that not only Madhya Pradesh but also the districts of Gujarat and Maharashtra would benefit from the boat ambulance as the border of three states were joining here. The boat ambulance would be very helpful in the coming days in the area.
"Besides, we face a challenge in this area that we don't communicate properly due to unavailability of mobile towers. Therefore, we have planned to set up a temporary radio station in the old boat. A discussion about the frequency is going on with the police department. We also requested BSNL to set up a few towers in the area to improve the communication" Mr Dattigaon said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)