Free taxi service for women in labour next year

Beginning Jan 2, the Kuala Lumpur Makkal Communication Taxi Driver Association will provide free, round-the-clock taxi service for women in labour.

Kuala Lumpur Federal Territories Excise Licensing Board chairman Datuk P. Gunaseelan said the move was part of the association's social service to the public to provide transportation for women in labour, especially late at night.

He said the association had prepared 50 taxis for the service and would ferry the women to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital and Ampang Hospital.

"This is the first project of its kind in Malaysia, they (Makkal Communication) will be providing free taxi service to women in labour all day," he told reporters after the launch of the taxi service here today.

Gunaseelan also welcomed other taxi associations to emulate the move for the benefit of women in labour.

Meanwhile, taxi driver S. Vijayapriya told Bernama that mobile application WhatsApp would be used to enhance communication between the taxi driver and the passenger.

"This application (WhatsApp) will make it much more easier for passengers to keep in touch with us. All 50 taxi drivers will be using WhatsApp, therefore this will be beneficial to women." she said.

The contact numbers of some of the 50 taxi drivers are Suriyamurthy (016-3029297); K. Kumar (010-2449577); P. Palaniandy (016-2129439); T. Rajendran (014-7178135); T. Rajan (013-3707417); and, Sharma (017-6705347).