COIMBATORE: When Nanjappan, a 37-year-old coolie worker, called ‘108’ at 5.15am on Sunday for an ambulance to take his wife Kavitha, 26, to the Mettupalayam government hospital, as she had gone into labour, little did he know the hurdles the Emergency Medical Technician and ambulance pilot would have to overcome to reach the family at Gandhavayal near Sirumugai.
EMT K Roja, in only her second month on the job, and pilot M Arun Kumar, set out to the village but came upon a ground level bridge near Lingapuram forest checkpost that had been submerged due to recent rainfall.
Taking an alternate route would cause a delay, so the duo parked the ambulance half a km from the checkpost and took a coracle across the water.
Then they borrowed a two-wheeler to reach the couple’s home. By then, Kavitha had delivered a baby boy but the infant’s skin was turning blue.
“We cut the umbilical cord but realised the baby needed oxygen and warmth,” Arun Kumar said. So they took the baby back to the ambulance by two-wheeler and coracle. “He needed more care, so we took him to the Mettupalayam GH for treatment. Meanwhile, we engaged another vehicle to take the longer route and bring Kavitha to the hospital,” he added.
Just as well as S Cheralathan, Chief Medical Officer at Mettupalayam GH, found that Kavitha had lost a lot of blood during the delivery. She was shifted to Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital which was better equipped to treat her.
Sources at CMCH told Express that mother and baby were fine and recovering well.
‘Proud to have saved the infant’
Roja, 20, said she was proud to have saved the baby. “If we had waited we would have endangered his life as his legs and hands were turning blue,” she said, adding this was the third rescue she had been part of.