At 2 am on Friday, 25-year-old Ruby Kataria, a resident of Sangam Vihar, started suffering after nine months of pregnancy police.
With much of the public transport on the road due to nationwide lockout to prevent the spread of COVID-19, her older sister, Komal, began calling hospitals for ambulances. But each call was met only by radio silence police.
“For some reason, no hospital picked up my phone. It was an emergency. My sister was in pain. We do not own our own car. At that moment, I got some idea and I called the police control room police.
I told them that my sister was about to have a child, and no one was available. Within six minutes, a police van was at our door and took us to the hospital. He saved her life, ”Komal said.
On Saturday afternoon, housewife Ruby gave birth to a boy. They haven’t named him yet
Komal said that Ruby would take her child with her to save her child after going to the hospital.
Since the 25-day nationwide lockout came into effect on March 25, the city’s Police Control Room (PCR) is doubling as a van ambulance.
Between Friday evening and Saturday evening, the PCR van transferred at least 43 women who experienced labor pains to hospitals across the city.
The police has taken 139 women to the hospital from March 25 on the helpline of the police control room.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Sharat Sinha said, “Since private and public vehicles are banned, and ambulances are being used to transport mostly suspected or confirmed Kovid-19 patients, we need police vans To use.
Alternative emergency vehicles to transfer pregnant women or those injured in various accidents to hospitals in the form of. ”
A senior health department official said the government had enough ambulances to transport non-Kovid patients.
“We have adequate ambulances for Kovid-19 patients. We also have ‘102 ambulances dedicated only to the transport of pregnant women and sick infants’.
In some cases, police officers, who are now unused to the tasks presented to them, are going the extra mile to ensure that the women in their vans feel safe and relaxed.
A police constable, who took a pregnant woman to Safdarjung Hospital on 3 April, said, “I have asked my wife to guide me about the things a woman should say during labor pains so that I can comfort him mentally. We are learning at work. We have to learn many things as a police officer. ”
Sinha said that for many residents who do not have vehicles, hauling transport in emergency situations is proving to be a serious challenge.
“Keeping these problems in mind, we directed all personnel in the PCR van to prioritize calls from women in labor. Fortunately, there has been no accident in any case, and our officials were able to take the women to the hospital, ”said Sinha.
According to Delhi Police data, heinous crimes like robbery, snatching, robbery have come down in the last 15 days. There has also been a decrease in road accidents on city roads. Between 15 and 31 March last year, there were 48 fatal road accidents in the city. This year this number came down to 19 in the same period.
“Reduced vehicular traffic has improved our response times. Our vehicles are arriving at the spot within two or three minutes and sending women to hospitals for maximum time.
Each PCR van has a stretcher to carry those who are unable to walk. First aid kits are also available in the vehicle, but they are mostly used to provide first aid attention to those injured in accidents.
To avoid police personnel getting infected with the Saras-Cove-2 virus, which causes Kovid-19, they are given sanitary masks, hand gloves, sanitizers, water, and soap, which are kept in vehicles.
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“We remind our employees of their personal hygiene and safety. Being the first responders to any emergency, we regularly encourage them to continue the services that they provide to the society during these times. ”
In many cases, police vans had to take women to labor in a multi-specialty hospital 14 km from their homes.
On Friday evening, when HT spoke to the constable, he said that he was going to a spot in his PCR van. It was a crisis period. Just at this time, there was less of a pressing matter on his hands – he was on his way to settle a quarrel between two neighbors police.