The Maharashtra government plans to start bicycle ambulances on a pilot basis which will have paramedics carrying medicine kits for senior citizens, a senior official said.

The pilot project will be launched soon in Mumbai and will be modelled on the one currently operational in the United Kingdom, the health department official added. "Paramedics on bicycles will focus on senior citizens and will carry kits with essential medicines for them. They will also interact with senior citizens who live alone," the official told PTI. He said that there were 20 motorcycle ambulances operating in Mumbai at present and five such ambulances each would be delivered to Palghar and Melghat soon.

He said that these two-wheeler ambulances had got over 1,500 calls from different parts of the city since it was launched in August last year. They can be availed by dialling the state's "108" ambulance helpline and are operating in Bhandup, Kurar, Malad, Charkop, Nagpada, Goregaon film city, Mankhurd, Dharavi police station, Khar police station, Thakur village in Kandivali and Kalina university campus in Santacruz, he added.