KASARGOD: It was the drive of the night. When most of Kerala was asleep, 108 Ambulance driver Thameem zipped 514 km in 6.45 hours to take an ailing infant to a hospital in Thiruvananthapuram.
Google says it would take 12 hours 7 minutes to drive from Pariyaram Medical College to Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) in the state capital during the best of time. Peak time could push the journey to up to 14 hours.
Thameem, a native of Kasargod, said the direction from 108 was to take Fathima Laiba, a 31-day-old girl from Pariyaram to SCT. Fathima, the daughter of Siraj and Ayesha of Badiadka in Kasargod, was admitted to Pariyaram Medical College with a heart condition. She had to continuously wear an oxygen mask.
On Wednesday, SCTIMST gave the child an appointment for surgery. The parents immediately contacted Child Protection Team Kerala, an NGO that takes up children’s causes, to help them transport the baby from Pariyaram to Thiruvananthapuram.
With a network across the state, the NGO alerted all its coordinators and activists on the scores of WhatsApp groups it runs to line up a team of volunteers in all districts along the highway. It also added police officers to their groups to ensure a smooth passage. The NGO then made a team. It called an ambulance of CMCC from Kasargod; roped in Rinto, a nurse working in the ICU of Shifa Sadia Hospital in Kasargod; and tapped Thameem. Around 8.30 pm, Thameem rolled out of the medical college in Pariyaram piloted by the police.
“Throughout the journey, the odometer never dropped below 100,” he said. Kannur police, which confirmed the breathless journey, said they gave escort till Mahe. The police in other districts too joined the effort.Except for a 20-minute fuel and food break in Kozhikode and a traffic snarl in Alappuzha, the drive was a breeze, Thameem said. The ambulance reached SCT at 3.23 am, on Thursday. The condition of the child is said to be critical and will undergo the lifesaving surgery in the hospital.