Pregnant women find ambulances busy, police vans step up to the task

PCR vans are the first responders whenever a crime is reported to the control room.

At 2 am on Friday, Ruby Kataria,25, a Sangam Vihar resident, nine months into her pregnancy, started having labour pain.

A PCR van is seen near India Gate during Janta Curfew proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- to prevent the spread of coronavirus. (Sushil Kumar/HT PHOTO)

With most public transport off the road because of the nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19, her elder sister, Komal, began calling hospitals for an ambulance. But each call was met only with radio silence.

“For some reason, no hospital took my call. It was an emergency. My sister was in pain. We do not own a car. At that moment, something struck me and I called the police control room. I told them my sister was about the deliver a baby, and no conveyance was available. Within six minutes, a police van was at our door and took us to the hospital. They saved her life,” Komal said.

On Saturday afternoon, Ruby, a homemaker, gave birth to a boy. They haven’t named him yet

Komal said Ruby will she would take her child along with her to meet the head police constable who saved her life, once she leaves the hospital.

Since the 21-day nationwide lockdown came into effect on March 25, the city’s police control room (PCR) vans are doubling up as ambulances.

PCR vans are the first responders whenever a crime is reported to the control room.

Between Friday evening and Saturday evening alone, PCR vans shifted at least 43 women who experienced labour pains to hospitals across the city. Since March 25, the police have rushed 139 women to hospitals, after getting calls on the police control room helpline.

Deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Sharat Sinha, said, “As private and public vehicles have been banned due to the, and ambulances are mostly being used for transporting suspected or confirmed Covid-19 patients, we are getting the police vans to be used as alternate emergency vehicles to shift pregnant women or people injured in various accidents to hospitals.”

A senior official in the health department however said the government has enough ambulances to transport non-Covid patients. “We have ample ambulances dedicated for Covid-19 patients. We also have ‘102 ambulances’, which are dedicated only to transport pregnant women and sick infants.”

In some cases, police officers, unused to the task now presented to them, are going the extra mile to make sure women in their vans feel safe and comforted.

A police constable, who had rushed a pregnant woman to Safdarjung hospital on April 3, said, “I have asked my wife to guide me on the things that one must say when a woman is in labour pain so that I can to comfort her psychologically. We are learning on the job. We have to learn so many things as a police officer.”

Sinha said that for many residents who do not own vehicles, getting hold of transport in emergency situations is proving to be a severe challenge.

“Keeping these problems in mind, we instructed all personnel in the PCR vans to prioritise calls from women in labour. Fortunately, there has been no mishap in any of the cases, and our officers were able to rush women to hospital,” Sinha said.

The police have narrowed their focus on such medical emergencies, he said, as crime-related calls are few and far between now.

According to Delhi Police data, the number of heinous crimes, like robbery, snatching, dacoity, has come down in the last 15 days. Road Accidents on the city’s streets have reduced as well. Between March 15 and 31 last year, there were 48 fatal road accidents in the city. In the same period this year, that number dropped to 19.

“The low volume of vehicular traffic has led to improvements in our response time. Our vehicles are reaching spots within two or three minutes, and are shifting women to hospitals in as much time,” he added.

Each PCR van has a stretcher to carry people who are unable to walk. First-aid kits are also available in the vehicle but they are mostly used to give preliminary medical attention to people injured in accidents. To avoid police personnel getting infected by the Sars-Cov-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, they are provided sanitary masks, hand gloves, sanitisers, water and soap, which are kept in the vehicles.

“We keep reminding our staff about their personal hygiene and safety. Being the first responders to any emergencies, we regularly encourage them to continue the services they provide to society during these times,” the DCP said.

In many of the cases, the police vans had to transport women in labour as far as 14km from their homes to a multi-speciality hospital.

On Friday evening, when HT spoke to the constable, he said he was going to a spot in his PCR van. There was a distress call. Just that this time, he had less of a pressing matter on his hands — he was on his way to settle a quarrel between two neighbours.