Doctors and nurses are at the front lines when it comes to combatting the coronavirus. While most of use remain home, they are the ones risking their lives treating patients and saving lives. In honour of their diligence and self-sacrifice, citizens from across the world have taken to their balconies to applaud healthcare workers and thank them for their work.
In some cities, however, locals are going one step further. While in Portugal many are allowing healthcare professionals to live in their spare apartments, Munich’s taxi drivers are ready to grant them free and quick transport to and from the hospitals.
Everyone doing their part
As of last week, taxi drivers in the Bavarian capital have been offering nurses and doctors rides to and from work free of charge. According to a representative of the Munich Taxi Association, medical personnel must be supported in any way possible during these trying times.
All that is needed from healthcare workers is to present a valid ID that identifies them as a doctor or a nurse. The costs of the initiative will be carried by the respective taxi companies for the time being – yet representatives state that this can not go on forever.
The Munich Taxi Association hopes that regional and federal authorities are currently working on long-term solutions that alleviate the pressure on taxi workers and will help their companies recoup their financial losses. As of right now, however, no such solution appears to be in sight.
Such a catch-all solution could prove essential, as no other cities in Bavaria are currently guaranteeing transport to doctors and nurses – something vital that a number of them might be lacking. In Nuremberg, for example, local taxi drivers do not have the same policy as the ones in Munich and have turned their service into one focused on delivering goods and medicine for a flat price of 10 euros.
