Guwahati: Police form green corridor to shift critically ill baby to New Delhi
Guwahati: In a significant move, Assam Police on Sunday facilitated shifting of a critically ill six-month-old child to New Delhi for a better treatment by setting up a green corridor on 45-km stretch of busiest roads of Guwahati.
The green corridor was set up along a 45-km stretch from Pratiksha Hospital on VIP Road to the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati.
Traffic was almost halted for about 30 minutes on Sunday morning to allow the movement of an ambulance headed to the airport, from where the critically ill infant was airlifted to Delhi for treatment.
The boy, Snigdharaag Bhuyan, who hails from Biswanath Chariali in upper Assam, has been suffering from a rare infection in the lung and spinal cord. He was flown in an air ambulance for treatment at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi.
It usually takes nearly 90 minutes to travel the distance but on Sunday, with effort of the police, public and local television channels, the ambulance carrying the child reached the airport in 26 minutes.
The air ambulance left Guwahati airport at 11:50 am and would reach Delhi airport within four hours.
Bhuyan was kept on ventilation at Pratiksha Hospital for two months but in order to seek better care, his parents decided to take him to Delhi.
The Guwahati city police commissioner Hiren Nath, who took a call to facilitate a green corridor in one of the busiest roads of Guwahati, said: “Since it was a genuine case of urgency and required our intervention, we sought the help of public. It was great relief to see people responded well, allowed the child to get airlifted within stipulated time passage of the doctors.”
“We are thankful to the public, police and the media for helping us in our time of need. I hope such steps are taken for others as well when needed,” the boy’s mother Madhusmita Saikia Bhuyan told reporters.
The police commissioner said that a green corridor is being set up in Delhi as well so that Snigdharaag can be shifted from the Indira Gandhi International Airport to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.
In March this year, an eight-day-old baby from Dibrugarh in upper Assam was flown to Delhi for emergency treatment and a similar green corridor was set up in the national capital at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention.
The police commissioner said that such step would also help in sensitizing the people as every second or minute matters a lot in case of an emergency.
