Hyderabad: Good Samaritans operate free ambulance for poor

Hyderabad: Despite limited resources including lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), a free ambulance service has helped several patients including pregnant women and dialysis patients reach hospitals in time, ever since the beginning of lockdown.

The free ambulance service extended for several years by the volunteers of SEVA Foundation with help of Maruti Omni vehicle received a big fillip in form of Maruti Echo boosting the morale of volunteers. The foundation serves people in Nampally constituency and neighbouring areas also in emergencies.

Volunteers take care to keep the virus at bay by sanitising themselves several times a day. "We remain alert even during the night to receive any calls for help," said Mohammed Haroon Osman, who drives the vehicle most of the times.

Earlier Haroon used to help all kinds of patients, but ever since the virus outbreak, he has been avoiding those not in urgent need.

Each time he rushes a patient to hospital, he takes shower and changes his clothes. "In the absence of provision of PPE, we all are taking maximum precautions and police authorities are cooperating with us," he said.

"Following the death of my father, I could not get an ambulance and we could only bring him back in an auto. The situation cannot be explained as my mother had to use her scarf to cover his legs which were hanging outside all along the way.

Moreover, on reaching home we were also not able to arrange for his Kafan (Shroud) immediately," he recalls the incident which spurred him to plunge into the noble service of helping the poor in need of ambulance services.

Haroon had used a vehicle donated by MIM to take home the deceased from State-run hospitals since 2016. Later, a donor provided a bigger Echo vehicle.

SEVA offers free services such as dead body freezer and kafan (shroud) to those who cannot afford. "With whatever limited contributions we are able to raise, we serve not only Muslims but everyone irrespective of religion and caste," he added.