Ambulance drivers act as counsellors
AMBULANCE drivers in Tamil Nadu are determined to transport Covid patients from their homes to hospitals as well as from private to government facilities, and to address the woes of the Covid patients’ families.
These good Samaritans are providing a yeoman service to the society, risking their health and lives.
Several voluntary organisations are also active on the ground, supporting the families of the Covid patients with counselling.
Rajkumar Manikandan, an ambulance driver attached to a voluntary organisation at Teynampet, in Chennai, said: “We are fully engaged now, these are the times when we will have to work for maybe 24 hours a day as cases are increasing, and the patients have to be transported to the medical facilities with immediate effect.
“However, I am happy that I can contribute something to the society. The cries of the family members when someone is affected with the disease are unbearable, even though I have transported several dead bodies across the country and witnessed the scenes at their homes while delivering the bodies of loved ones,” he said.
The ambulance drivers wear PPE kit and there are several instances where the driver also doubles up as a counsellor to patients.
Suresh, an ambulance driver at Ashok Nagar who is attached to a private hospital at Virugambakam, said: “People sometimes behave very rudely to us, but we can understand their mindset. So we try to maintain our calm.
“On one side we are also afraid when the disease is catching up to us even though I was tested positive once and had undergone the required quarantine during the first wave. Anyway this is my profession and I am doing it with full satisfaction.”
Voluntary organisations are providing ambulance services for Covid patients.
Velayudhan Sreenivasan, a driver for an ambulance service run by a voluntary organisation, said: “The voluntary organisation where I work does not even insist on the money but most of the relatives of Covid patients were benevolent and paid us well. There were, however, some instances where people did not have the money to pay the ambulance bill and our organisation did not insist that we get the full money. Whatever little the patient’s family had, we accepted.” |