Sixty modern basic life support (BLS) ambulances will soon be deployed on the country’s highways to speed up the transport of road-accident victims to hospitals and make use of the critical “golden hour” after a crash. Md Moniruzzaman, chief engineer of the Roads and Highways Department (RHD), disclosed the information.
He said the ambulances would initially be deployed under a pilot project along several key highway corridors. Once news of an accident is received through a central 24-hour call center, the nearest available ambulance would be dispatched to the scene.
Under the pilot project, ambulances are planned to be stationed roughly every 10 kilometers along designated stretches of the Chandra-Elenga-Rangpur highway, the Hatikumrul-Natore-Rajshahi highway, and the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway.
The chief engineer said each ambulance would be staffed in shifts by three trained health technologists. Equipped with oxygen and other necessary supplies, they would provide basic life support to accident victims at the scene. Patients would then be taken to the nearest appropriate hospital, whether an upazila health complex, district hospital, or medical college. The service is planned to be provided free of charge.
An initiative has also been launched to station trained local volunteers, or “bystander care” workers, along the highways to assist accident victims until an ambulance arrives. They will be given first-aid training and the necessary equipment.
Md Moniruzzaman said the first few minutes after an accident are extremely critical. Trained local people providing initial assistance, combined with ambulances reaching the scene quickly, can significantly reduce fatalities, he said. If the pilot program with 60 ambulances proves successful, the service will be expanded in phases to cover all of the country’s major highways.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report