Now, Aakhri Umeed to ferry Covid patients at just Rs11

Ajay Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, May 27

While the spike in Covid-19 cases during the second wave of the coronavirus prompted increased demand of ambulances to ferry patients to the hospitals safely, the unreasonable money being charged by private ambulance operators has left people hanging in balance.

However, free ambulance service to ferry patients to hospitals are active in the region, their occupancy sometimes forces people to opt for private operators.

Aakhri Umeed, an NGO, has come to the rescue of those people, who can’t afford exorbitant rates being charged by ambulances. For just Rs11, the NGO will help Covid victims in reaching the hospital. The service will not only be restricted within the district, but will expand to other districts and states as well. The ambulance service will be active from Friday onwards.

Notably, the NGO is already helping people to cremate those who succumbed to Covid-19. From bearing the cost of the PPE kits to bringing the bodies to the cremation ground, the NGO has been providing all its services for free. On an average, the volunteers of Aakhri Umeed cremate 7 to 9 bodies in a day.

“With an alarming rate of increase in Covid cases, it was hard to see people pleading ambulance drivers to cut their cost. Hence, we decided to provide ambulance service to the needy,” said Jatinder Pal Singh, the president of the NGO, also its founder.

He said initially we will launch the service with just one ambulance and looking at the response and demand, another ambulance would be brought into service.

The NGO operates from Babreek Chowk, near the Football Chowk and the volunteers do not draw any salary.