The residents of Kashipur union in Narail’s Lohagara upazila have become a living example of the timeless saying, “People are for people, life is for life.” Atiqul Islam, a businessman from Gilatala village in Kashipur union, has launched a five-year free ambulance service for the poor, the helpless and other underprivileged people of the area. Union residents are delighted by such an unusual initiative.
Inaugurating the free ambulance service by cutting a ribbon at the Adenda Hat square in Kashipur union on Saturday (June 13) afternoon, young entrepreneur Atiqul Islam said: “Alongside this service (the free ambulance), I will soon arrange free health care in the area by bringing in specialist doctors. Earlier, at Eid ul-Adha, I distributed 10 kg each of rice, oil, vermicelli and other items among 400 underprivileged people of the union. Bringing a smile to the faces of underprivileged people of the area is my joy and my love.”
To mark the launch, leaflets were distributed and boards were put up in various parts of Kashipur union, and the service was publicized using the ambulance. Two hotlines — 01331-501078 and 01974-415574 — have also been set up.
Through the free ambulance service, people from every village of Kashipur union in Narail will be able to take patients to any government or private hospital in Dhaka, Jashore, Khulna, Narail and elsewhere in the country. They will also be able to bring patients back from hospitals free of charge.
Union residents — including Motiar Rahman Molla and Yeasin Molla of Gilatala village, Abdul Kader of Padmabila village and Shahidullah of Kashipur village — said they had never seen such an unusual initiative before, and that it had created a great stir among everyone. A free ambulance service at times of illness is a true blessing, and helpless patients will benefit from it, they said.
Sohel Rana, joint convener of the Narail district branch of Human Rights, said that although the formal inauguration was on Saturday (June 13) afternoon, the service had in fact begun two days earlier. “Last Friday, a player named Kifayet broke his leg during a Brazil-versus-Argentina friendly football match organized by the Kashipur Jubo Sangha. When he was taken to the Lohagara Upazila Health Complex, doctors said he had to be taken to Dhaka. At that point we were running around for an ambulance. Kifayet was then taken to Dhaka through Atiqul bhai’s free ambulance service,” he said, adding that union residents were already glad to receive the service.
Praising Atiqul Islam’s free ambulance service, Kashipur union family-planning inspector Mashiur Rahman and people of various professions said it was a commendable initiative. People feel most helpless when they are in danger or fall ill, they said, and at such moments an ambulance service like this gives a patient’s family a sense of trust and reliance. Others in society who have the means should come forward with humanitarian work as Atiqul has done, they added, so that, alongside government health care, underprivileged people also benefit at the private level.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report