People visiting the post office at Park Road in Anna Nagar West were recently surprised to see a State government-run ambulance parked inside the premises. It is an initiative of the Department of Posts to effectively utilise vacant space available at post offices in and around the city. This would also help victims get ambulance services quickly.
“Allowing ambulances to park at post offices is a very good move as the vehicles can reach the victimsfaster,” said V. Rajagopal, president, Anna Nagar West (Phase – II) Residents Welfare Association.
Started a month ago, the initiative is part of the efforts by the Department of Posts to connect better with consumers, including offering services such as online booking of railway tickets. At present, the post offices in St. Thomas Mount, Anna Nagar, Ambattur and Tambaram allow ambulances to be parked inside their premises. Officials of the Department of Posts were in talks with hospitals (private and government) and also NGOs to allow parking of ambulances at vacant spaces inside post offices in the city. In fact, officials of the Department were planning to allow ambulances at all post offices, including head post offices at Anna Salai and Pondy Bazaar, wherever large spaces were available. “Currently, many post offices in the city have large unutilised space. Apart from opening ATMs, parking of ambulances will help consumers get better services,” said an official with the Department of Posts.
The residents of Anna Nagar are delighted to have such services in the neighbourhood. Unlike other areas , Anna Nagar has a large number of senior citizens, mainly retired government officials and businessmen. Despite Anna Nagar having many reputed private hospitals with ambulances, the state-run ambulances (those provided by ‘108’ services) are few in number due to lack of parking space.
For example, the ambulance parked at the post office on Park Road in Anna Nagar West was earlier parked inside the fire station office at J.J. Nagar. However, the ambulance was moved out as the fire station office itself had many vehicles parked inside.“Instead of parking in the open, leaving the vehicle at post offices is a safer option,” said S.Ravi, an ambulance driver.
