On Tuesday, 16 April, an ambulance sped through the street of Mangaluru to reach Thiruvananthapuram to save the life of a 15-day-old infant who needed a heart valve surgery.
The journey, that started at 11 am, was streamed live on Facebook in the hope that citizens will volunteer to clear the traffic as the ambulance with the family of the infant hoped to cover the distance of nearly 600 kilometres crossing 12 districts.
However, according to a report in The News Minute the ambulance was later diverted to Kochi after the Kerala government offered to help the family. The infant is currently undergoing treatment at Amrita hospital.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also posted a message on Facebook, asking people to cooperate.
The infant was originally being taken to Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute in Thiruvananthapuram where the family could get treatment at affordable prices.
Speaking to The News Minute, Sunil Malikkal, a member of the Child Protect Team NGO, which was coordinating the transfer of the infant said that people check social media a lot and it helps in spreading the message.
“We had done this once two years ago. People check social media a lot and they spread messages they see on social media. So since the route has been announced, people help us a lot.”Sunil Malikkal, Child Protect Team to TNM
He also said that the child could not be air lifted due to risk of “breathing and pressure variation” adding that the “Kerala government has promised to help the child.”
(With inputs from The News Minute)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)