Rescue boats are now used as ambulances for COVID-19 patients in Kerala

The Canadian actor and entrepreneur, Ryan Reynolds, once said, "Any kind of crisis can be good. It wakes you up.”

This can be seen in Kerala as the state is recovering from the severe floods that swept the state in August 2020. Recently, rescue boats were converted to ambulances to save lives. 

According to The News Minute, Kerala deployed two 24-hour rescue boats – one specifically for COVID-19 patients and the other for general health concerns and emergencies. 

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Shaji V Nair, the Director of State Water Transport Department, said, 

“There are many who live in the interior regions and depend on boats to reach hospitals. Once the regular boats stop service at 10pm, they have no other way to venture out. These ambulance boats must have saved several hundreds of lives in the past few months.”

Shaji also mentioned that more than 25,000 people at the Perumbalam Island of Alappuzha, are still struggling without any means of public transport. These rescue boats served the purpose and have proven to be very helpful in such areas. 

As of now, five rescue boats are operating in Alappuzha, Panavally, Vaikkom, Muhamma and Ernakulam reported The Logical Indian. Four out of these are used for ambulance services. As soon as the patients get to the nearest piece of land, they are moved to regular ambulances and taken to the hospital for medical aid. 

When it comes to the raft arranged to carry people affected with coronavirus, a driver as well as two trained attendants are always present. All the personnel involved in this process take the necessary safety precautions like wearing PPE kits, masks and spraying disinfectants. 

(Edited by Rekha Balakrishnan)