Express News Service
PATNA: At a time when family members of Covid patients are charged exorbitantly by ambulance operators for transporting the dead or critical patients, Mritunjay Kumar, 45, has pitched in with help. He has converted his autorickshaw into an ambulance with oxygen facility in Bihar’s Munger district.
He says he has done it with the help of a social activist of Munger Manch to save families from falling prey to the greedy ambulance operators. Munger reported the first Covid death in Bihar last year. It has now 2,242 active Covid cases with 94 fatalities since March 2020.
“My autorickshaw-ambulance serves the poor patients as I ferry them with the help of social activist Lokesh Jain of the Munger Manch organization”, says Mritunjay Kumar. “One may eat less but keep some money aside to save humanity from this pandemic.”
“I may earn less, but I won’t allow a Covid patient to spend so much on an ambulance. Lokesh Jain has already arranged an oxygen cylinder in the autorickshaw”, he said. He says he charges only Rs 200 from Covid patients for reaching a hospital within a 10 km radius in the city.
His autorickshaw-ambulance also has a sanitizer, a first-aid kit and a mask with oxygen. He says more autorickshaw drivers should pitch in. He displays his cell phone number on the autorickshaw for the benefit of the people to call him whenever needed. He says he sanitizes his vehicle twice before taking patients to and from hospitals. It has become quite a hit.
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