This Kerala man turns his auto into a mini ambulance to help Covid-19 patients

The ongoing second wave of Covid-19 has brought some of the best empathetic sides of people. One such story is of Premachandran, a 51-year-old autorickshaw driver from Vellur near Payyannur, Kerala. With the help of his humble autorickshaw, which he turned into a mini ambulance, the man has transported nearly 500 people with Covid-19 symptoms.

After every trip to a hospital, the auto driver fully sanitised his vehicle and made it ready for the next trip. His auto can be seen covered by plexiglass barriers on all three sides so as to ensure that anyone nearby does not get affected by the Covid carrier patient. The sheet barrier also keeps him safe from contracting the virus.

At a time when many didn’t come forward to help these people to take them to hospitals, Premchandran made sure he helped them to reach their destination on time. He recalled that all this started when he ferried a pregnant woman and a gulf returnee with Covid-19 symptoms to hospital.

After this, as cases started to surge, local social work bodies and local authorities asked for his support to take many to the hospital who were suffering in the lockdown. “After I offered the ride to gulf returnee with COVID-19 symptoms many others started to call me. Asha workers and those from local authorities gave me trips of those who need to go to hospitals particularly at the time of lockdown. Many had COVID-19 symptoms and others were reluctant to take them," he said according to a report by ANI.

After 30 years of driving an autorickshaw, Premachandran said that these trips are his way to serve people in this crisis. He also takes pride in the support that he receives from his family.

Recently, the story of Javed Khan, an auto driver in Bhopal who has converted his vehicle into a mini ambulance to ferry Civid-19 patients, was also reported. His stance too came from the difficulty that people faced reaching healthcare centres during the lockdown.