A distress call to the Theni district control room proved that States can work together in times of emergency despite the stringent COVID-19 lockdown.
Coordination between officials in Tamil Nadu and the Karnataka police helped a young girl in Theni, suffering from Maple Syrup Urine Disorder (MSUP), get medicines from Bengaluru in record time.
The 11-year-old girl’s father works as a supplier in a small restaurant in Periyakulam and her mother is a daily wage worker.
With both rendered unemployed due to the lockdown, getting meta nutrition, the required dietary supplement for their only daughter, from Bengaluru seemed near impossible.
For the past three years, the family has been procuring it through courier service.
“With prohibitory orders in vogue, we did not know what to do as there is no movement of goods... ,” the mother told The Hindu .
A campaign vehicle appealing to people to remain indoors while distributing pamphlets with a control room number proved a godsend for the desperate parents.
After the girl’s mother called the control room, her request was passed to nodal officer Kavita, who in turn, spoke to Collector M. Pallavi Baldev. A team of officials visited the family at Aranmanaipudur panchayat near Periakulam and obtained details of the shop in Bengaluru.
When Ms. Kavita contacted the dealer, he was initially reluctant to open the shop but later agreed to keep the medicine ready. She then sought the help of the Bengaluru City Police Commissioner, who made arrangements to get the packet delivered to the Hosur checkpost. A two-member team from Theni then made a 14-hour journey to the checkpost and back to Periakulam to deliver the medicine to the family, leaving them overwhelmed by refusing to accept money for the medicines.
