CMCH to introduce battery-operated vehicles to ferry old, paraplegic patients

Kolkata: In a unique initiative, the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) is planning to introduce battery-operated vehicles to ferry elderly and paraplegic patients from one point to another inside the hospital campus.

According to a senior official of CMCH, around six battery-operated vehicles would soon be procured so that the patients having physical deformities and the elderly persons do not face any difficulties while visiting various departments of the hospital.

It has been learnt that CMCH is the first state-run hospital in the state to come up with this idea. According to the initial plan, six such vehicles would be introduced in the first phase. Four more vehicles would be introduced at the hospital later on.

Construction work has already begun inside the hospital campus to make internal roads smoother, to ensure that these vehicles do not face any problems while transporting the patients from one department to the other. The vehicles would be kept at all the gates of CMCH.

"Surfacing works are going on to give a new shape to the internal roads connecting various departments within the campus of the hospital. It would require a smoother road to ply the battery-operated vehicles. Once the vehicles are made operational, it would be extremely beneficial for the elderly patients who have become too feeble to walk from one point to the other," a senior official of the CMCH said.

He also said that many elderly patients frequently visiting the hospital often face difficulties to reach the out patient department (OPD). Those who commute on public transport, get off at Central Avenue or College Street. They need to walk to reach the OPD and other departments.

Those who have some physical problems or the elderly ones, face difficulties in reaching their destinations.

Keeping this in mind, the battery-operated vehicles would remain stationed at all the gates to ferry the patients. According to a senior official of CMCH, these vehicles would soon be introduced at the hospital. A private company has been engaged to deploy the vehicles.