Balangir: The district administration plans to introduce bike-ambulance service to take health care service closer to those living in the interior pockets.

In a preparatory meeting held on Tuesday, Balangir District Rural Development Agency project director Maheshwar Swain, Balangir chief district medical officer Sugnyanendra Mishra and regional transport officer Pranaya Mishra discussed the plan in detail and decided that 93 villages in the interior pockets of Turekela and Khaprakhole blocks of the district would be covered in the first phase.

The tender process for the bike-ambulance service would be initiated shortly. A similar service had successfully been introduced in Kalahandi district in November 2016.

Many a time, people living in inaccessible areas in the interior parts of the district do not get timely health care as four-wheeler ambulances cannot reach such areas in the absence of proper motorable roads.

The bike-ambulance service will, however, easily reach even comparatively inaccessible places. Apart from ferrying pregnant women and ailing children to hospitals, the ambulances will also come to the aid of accident victims.

Rahas Meher, a health care activist, said health care was in a pitiable condition in many parts of the district. "The villagers in interior pockets can hardly access any health service. When they fall ill, they leave it to god as they can't reach the nearest health centre because of poor road connectivity," he said.

Meher said the bike-ambulance service would come handy in addressing the problem as two-wheelers could easily reach the interior areas. "This is a good initiative. It has been successfully implemented in some other parts of the country," he said.

"We will shortly begin a tender process for hiring the bike ambulance service. These ambulances will benefit pregnant women and ailing and the disabled people living in the inaccessible areas," he said.