Police in Vaishali are mulling over providing immediate medical help to ailing people stuck on the Hajipur end of the Mahatma Gandhi Setu.

The force plans to set up a primary health centre at the traffic control room on the Hajipur end of the bridge in two-three days. The decision follows the death of a woman from Siwan on May 20 after she was stuck in a traffic snarl near the Ganga Bridge police station in Vaishali on way to Patna.

The police have sought assistance of non-government organisations for the job.

Vaishali superintendent of police (SP) Chandrika Prasad said: "We are trying our best to provide relief to commuters crossing the 5.575km bridge from the Hajipur end. We have also involved some NGOs to ensure immediate medical help to ailing people caught in a traffic snarl on the bridge."

The centre would have a team of doctors and paramedical staff round-the-clock.

"The idea is to serve the people in dire need of help. In order to ease traffic on the bridge, we have already implemented lane driving system from our end," Chandrika said.

Vaishali civil surgeon Vibhash Prasad Singh said he has not yet received any request from the SP's office to deploy any doctor or paramedical staff at the traffic control cum-primary health centre on the northern end of the bridge. "We have such a centre at Tirasianext to the bridge and the same people can be deputed at the control room," he said.

He vowed to provide assistance at the centre if any formal request was made to the district magistrate and the senior officials of the health department. "But there is no official communication in this regard," Dr Singh said.

District magistrate Vinod Singh Gunjiyal could not be contacted in spite of repeated attempts.

Amid the police initiatives, snarls continued on the bridge. "On Sunday, it took me about an hour to reach Patna from Hajipur," Santosh Kumar Singh, a resident of Bidupur in Vaishali.

So far as traffic regulation was concerned, SP Singh said no additional police force has yet been provided to the district police from the headquarters. Instead, four sub-inspectors and one inspector have been sent to Patna from Vaishali.

Vaishali additional superintendent of police Arvind Gupta said traffic was being regulated on the bridge with limited resources available with the district police.