A private ambulance driver on Saturday offered free ride to a migrant worker to take his critically ill new-born from Government Hospital, Annur, to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH).
A. Chiranjeevi of Annur, the private ambulance driver, said that the couple from Odisha approached him at Annur GH saying they wanted to rush the baby to CMCH. They told him that 108 ambulance might come late.
“I initially told them the charge for the trip. But seeing that the baby was ill, I offered them a free ride,” he said.
The ambulance left the GH at 12.45 p.m. and reached CMCH at 1.12 p.m. Mr. Chiranjeevi had also informed the police control room due to which the traffic signals were kept open accordingly.
Though the private ambulance driver managed to take the four-day-old male baby from Annur GH to CMCH covering 30 km in 27 minutes with the help of the police, the newborn died without responding to treatment late on Saturday. It died around 11 p.m.
S. Selvamuthukumar, GVK EMRI's programme manager for Coimbatore, the Nilgiris and Tiruppur, said that the baby’s parent had called 108 control room but he cut the call, reportedly in a state of panic, stating that he would call again. The parent then approached the private ambulance.
Mr. Selvamuthukumar said that the baby was born at Nambiyampalaym primary health centre in Tiruppur district on October 7. It was shifted to the neonatal ICU of the Tiruppur Medical College Hospital after delivery due to complications of umbilical cord having wrapped around the baby's neck in the womb.
“The mother and baby were reported missing from the neonatal ICU after three days. They reportedly went home and took the baby to Annur GH on Saturday after its condition deteriorated,” said Mr. Selvamuthukumar.