The Chennai traffic police has done it again. A green corridor helped a patient get a heart in time by helping to transport the vital organ from one medical institution to another in minutes. Motorists, who initially thought the disruption in traffic was due to the movement of politicians, soon realised it was for transporting a heart from Apollo Hospitals on Greames Road to Malar Hospital in Adyar.
Senior police officers said the transportation took place without hassles. On Thursday, the organ was transported in eleven minutes whereas in normal traffic, it would have taken at least a half hour, an officer said.
“I got a call around 5.15 from Malar Hospital, stating that they needed the traffic police’s help for transporting a heart from Apollo Hospitals. I took permission from Sanjay Arora, additional commissioner of police (traffic), and immediately alerted all the police officers on duty,” said deputy commissioner of police (traffic planning) Sivanantham.
“We arranged for a pilot vehicle with a good driver for transporting the heart. All the traffic junctions on the route — from Greames Road to Beach Road in Adyar — were put on alert. We were in contact with the hospitals’ technical teams to know when the heart was being brought out,” said Mr. Sivanantham.
The heart was taken in a special box out of Apollo at 5.45 p.m. “The police officers at various junctions co-ordinated with each other and helped in transporting the organ on time,” said Mr. Sivanantham.
He said that green channels to facilitate transportation of organs for transplant had been done in over seven instances in the past. “We think it is a god-given opportunity for us to save a life,” said Mr. Sivanantham.
A police source, who was on duty at one of the junctions, said that initially some motorists were upset with the traffic delay. “Once the police officers explained the situation to them, they co-operated,” he said.
Arvind Kumar, a 22-year-old who died in a road accident, was the organ donor.
