With a view to improving the lot of womenfolk and to mark International Women’s Day, the district administration in North Dinajpur on Thursday appointed eight lady ambulance drivers who will ferry pregnant women to hospitals for safe delivery.
North Dinajpur District Magistrate Aiyasha Rani flagged-off the ambulances at Karnajora amid a function organized to mark the day. According to sources, the women drivers who work under Self-Help Groups have been trained by the district administration to drive the ambulances.
Following the training, eight of them have been appointed to run these ambulance or ‘Matrijan,’ which will ply in their respective gram panchayat areas.
The keys of the ambulances were handed over to the beneficiaries by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on 22 February at Hemtabad in the district.
“These women have been provided proper training to drive the ambulances. Eight women have been given the opportunity to drive the Matrijans. They will carry pregnant mothers from their respective villages to the nearest delivery centres and viceversa. They will also carry sick children to the hospital in times of need. The drivers will be paid by the respective hospitals,” Chief Medical Officer of Health, North Dianjpur, Dr Prakash Mridha, said.
District Magistrate Aiyesha Rani said the administration has targeted 100 percent institutional deliveries in the district. “At the same time, we have laid stress on women empowerment. We have provided ambulances to eight women after spending funds from the Border Area Development Programme, which will help them earn their livelihood,” she said.
“Yesterday(Wednesday), we flagged off 20 ambulances under our ‘dial 102’ service. We have a target to increase the number of women drivers soon,” Mrs Rani said.