Uttar Pradesh : 12-yr-old takes grandma to hospital in cart over no ambulance
GORAKHPUR: A 12-year-old boy had to ferry his ailing grandmother to a community health centre in a cart in the neighbouring Basti district as no ambulance was available, prompting the district administration to order a probe.
Chhotu was with his 85-year-old grandmother Anara Devi at his home at Kamalpur village on Friday afternoon when her condition suddenly started deteriorating.
Neighbours tried to call an ambulance, but unfortunately, none was available. Chhotu then decided to carry her in a cart to the Vikramjot community health centre, around 3 kilometres from his village.
"Daadi (grandmother) was crying in pain and her condition was deteriorating with every passing minute. My neighbours tried to help me and they called government ambulance on phone but none turn up. I waited for some time and then decided to take my daadi on a thelaa (cart) which was available in the village," Chhotu said.
Anara Devi is undergoing treatment as the health care centre. Her son Ashok Kumar, a labourer, said "My financial condition is not good and I am not able to provide good treatment to my mother. My son took her to the CHC when I was not home. Now doctors are asking me to get some tests done from outside of the hospital. I am trying to arrange money for that."
When contacted, officiating district magistrate Arvind Pandey said, "We have taken cognisance of the incident. A probe has been ordered under the chief medical officer of the district. The report will be submitted within two days, and strict action will be taken against the culprits."
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Jhansi fire: Nurse's heroic efforts helped save over dozen babies
Lucknow/Jhansi (UP), Nov 17: Nurse Megha James was on duty when the fire broke out at the Jhansi hospital and she threw herself headlong into the rescue efforts, playing a hero's role by saving several babies.
Even when her salwar got burned, she refused to give up and was able to evacuate 14-15 babies with others' help.
"I had gone to take a syringe to give an injection to a child. When I came back, I saw that the (oxygen) concentrator had caught fire. I called the ward boy, who came with the fire extinguisher and tried to put it out. But by then, the fire had spread," James said.
Ten babies perished in a fire that broke out at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Jhansi Friday night.
Faced with an enormous blaze, James's mind worked with a frenetic speed, to the extent she cared little about burning herself.
"My chappal caught fire and I burned my foot. Then my salwar caught fire. I removed my salwar and discarded it. At that time, my mind was virtually not working," she told PTI Videos.
James just wore another salwar and went back to the rescue operation.
"There was a lot of smoke, and once the lights went out, we could not see anything. The entire staff brought out at least 14-15 children. There were 11 beds in the ward with 23-24 babies," she said.
Had the lights not gone out they could have saved more children, James said. "It all happened very suddenly. None of us had expected it."
Assistant Nursing Superintendent Nalini Sood praised James's valour and recounted bits from how the rescue operation was carried out.
"The hospital staff broke the glasses of the NICU ward to evacuate the babies. It was then Nurse Megha's salwar caught fire. Instead of caring for her safety, she stayed there to rescue the babies and handed them over to people outside," she said.
Sood said James is currently undergoing treatment at the same medical college. She said she did not know the extent of her burns.
"The rescued babies were shifted to a ward very close to the NICU ward… When I recall the scene, I feel like crying," she said.
Dr Anshul Jain, the head of the anaesthesiology department at the medical college, explained the standard rescue operation and claimed the hospital followed the protocol to the T.
"In the triage process during an ICU evacuation, the policy is to evacuate less-affected patients first. The rationale behind this approach is that patients requiring minimal support can be relocated quickly, enabling a larger number of evacuations to be completed in a shorter time.
"In contrast, patients on ventilators or requiring high oxygen support demand more time and resources for evacuation," he said.
"This principle was successfully implemented in Jhansi, playing a significant role in saving many lives," Jain said.
A newborn rescued from the fire died due to illness on Sunday, Jhansi District Magistrate Avinash Kumar said.
