When doctors and cops, who joined hands in the race against time to save a life hogged all the limelight, the compassionate people of Pariyaram panchayat in Chalakkudy willingly took a backseat despite making it all possible in the first place.
For the last six months, they have been praying and amassing money to save Mathew Achadan, a resident of their panchayat. “We managed to collect over Rs.10 lakh in the last six months and the generous support from other quarters helped mobilise another Rs.8 lakh. We were told that the entire treatment would cost around Rs.40 lakh. We have already paid Rs.18 lakh towards the medical expenses,” said Daly Varghese, a ward member.
The panchayat also helped set up a stitching unit for Mathew’s wife to compensate for his loss of livelihood. With Mathew advised to undergo complete rest at least for a year after the surgery, the unit might help the family of four to earn its bread for sometime to come.
All that effort would have come to naught had the traffic cops in the city failed to execute the plan to transfer the organ from the airport to the hospital the way they did. More than 100 cops were deployed along the route to ensure the smooth transfer of the beating heart.
“We didn’t divert traffic at any point along the entire stretch but only regulated the traffic to the MG road from connecting roads momentarily for the convoy to pass through. Traffic signals along the route were also sequenced accordingly,” K.S. Baby Vinod, Assistant Commissioner, Traffic West, who escorted the ambulance right up to the hospital.
