Karimul Haque: The man saves patients through his 'bike-ambulance'

BY GORKY BAKSHI

In Malbazar region of Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal when somebody falls ill and require an ambulance they call a friendly neighbour, who is a tea- gardener. Karimul Haque, the tea-gardner is the one who can be relied upon because he drives any patient upto 45 kilometers from the village, on his bike and that too free of cost. Karimul Haque barely earns 4000 bucks a month, but has dedicated his life to ferry patients to the hospital on his motorcycle. His service is available anytime either day or night, he gets ready to ferry patient just on a phone call. Due to lack of medical facilities available in the remote villages, the villagers have to travel for more than 40 km everytime they need medical treatment. Unfortunately, there is no ambulance services available in these areas, Karimul Haque is the saviour and is quite famous in and around his village as Bike Wala Ambulance.

Why this service?

Till date he has taken more than 3,000 patients to the hospital on his bike. But why he is doing so or what makes him motivated to do so, he explained about a tragic incident that changed the course of his life. “It was dark night when my mother, Zufuran Nessa, suffered a heart attack. We were looking for an emergency medical help.Unfortunately we couldn’t manage to take her to the hospital located 45 km ahead of our village. I was shattered and felt myself worthless. I realized that the tragedy that happened with me, should not happen with anyone in my village.” With him few months of savings he purchased a bike and started a new phase of his determined life. He has been ferrying patients since 2013. Among many other remote areas Dhalabari village under the Malbazar region is not spare of the crisis. “Till date more than 3000 people from nearby 20 villages have called me for this service. Despite lack of enough money I am able to bear the cost of fuel and maintenance of the bike. I am doing this in memory of my mother,” said Karimul Haque.

Also Read: Karimul Haque drives an ambulance on bike

Challenges

He feels that if one has courage and determination anything is possible. Biggest challenge he feels is spreading a word among nearby villagers and requirement of medical facilities. “People used to laugh at me when I started carrying patients on my bike. I have placed a board ‘bike-ambulance’ written on front of my bike and have acquired permission to use blue blinking light. I am slowly getting a space in heart of people that is what I want.” He explained further: “Apart from this basic medical facilities should be made available in near about of village. It is not possible for each and everyone to purchase vehicle, poor people of these villages have to be depend on government or other facilities.” He has sent several applications and met various government officers to have some medical facility in his area. But no one is paying serious attention on his efforts.

Karimul Haque past history & Bio-

Family life

He has two sons and two daughters. Both the daughters are married and his two sons are working as mobile mechanics. His family members are quite supportive of his work. Why he doesn’t purchase a car for better service he explained: “This region has a difficult terrain where travelling through car is not possible every time. Also, bike-ambulance has become popular and now people easily recognize me so that I don’t want to switch.”

Karimul Haque Address-

Contact for Bike-Ambulance, Karimul Haque: Village: Dhalabari, Police Station: Malbazar, District: Jalpaiguri, Phone: +91 9832571833