Gazprom service stations offer health checks for taxi drivers

The Gazprom Neft filling station network, together with Russia’s largest online taxi booking service Yandex.Taxi, will install automated pre-trip health screening terminals for taxi drivers to improve service quality and safety on the roads.

The first terminal is now in operation at the Gazprom Neft filling station on Belomorskaya Ulitsa, Moscow, with seven pilot health screening points expected to open throughout the Gazprom Neft filling station network by the end of the summer, according to a company release.

Each terminal has equipment that measures blood pressure, pulse rate, any evidence of alcohol or drugs in the blood as well as chronic fatigue. The information obtained is forwarded automatically to a doctor.

“(Gazprom Neft) now offers a ‘telemedical’ service with drivers able in a matter of minutes, and in the same place, to refill their vehicle, drink a cup of coffee, and have a health check. That’s the model for the future, already available at our stations,” said Oleg Kuzmenkov, Head of the Gazprom Neft filling station network in Russia and the CIS.

Alexey Fedotov, Head of Development for Yandex.Taxi Russia, hopes that these automated terminals be extended to various medical institutions, taxi depots, and service stations, in the future, “This will not only improve the system’s transparency, but also make transport companies’ work safer.”