Ambalappuzha: Quick thinking and prompt action by two volunteers ensured immediate medical care for a Covid-infected person at Punnapra in Alappuzha.
As the patient developed breathlessness, volunteers Ashwin and Rekha shifted him to the hospital on the motorbike without waiting for an ambulance to arrive.
The patient, a native of Karoor, was quarantined at the domiciliary care centre at the Punnapra cooperative engineering college hostel in Alappuzha. He suffered from breathlessness by 9am on Friday. The centre, where 87 people have been accommodated, does not have health workers or ventilator facility.
Volunteers Ashwin Kunjumon, 23, and Rekha, 21, both activists of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), had turned up in the morning with the food for those at the centre.
One of the people at the centre informed them that a man at the top floor was suffering from breathlessness. The patient, who was in a weak state, was immediately brought down to the ground floor with the help of another person at the centre. They also sought the help of Punnapra north panchayat president Sajitha Satheesan for an ambulance.
But noticing that the patient's health condition was deteriorating, Ashwin and Rekha decided not to wait for the ambulance. Ashwin drove the bike while Rekha rode pillion with the infected man seated between them. Both the volunteers were wearing PPE kits.
The bike sped to the nearby Sagara cooperative hospital. They reached in just two minutes and the patient was provided with medical care. The patient was then shifted to the Alappuzha general hospital.
However, a row had erupted on Friday after television channels aired visuals of the patient being transported on the two-wheeler by the two volunteers. The health authorities have launched a probe into the incident.
The act of the two volunteers earned the praise of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. He blamed the media for wrongly presenting the service mindset of the two youths. "That patient is recuperating from the illness", the CM said while congratulating the youths for their timely act.
Even during the last lockdown period, Rekha was actively involved in distributing food and medicines for the Covid-infected at their homes.
