Coronavirus lockdown: Journalist, doctor and lawyer step-up to help woman with rare blood group near Mumbai

Twenty-two-year-old Rashida Khatoon, a resident of Manor, Palghar, was in severe distress after delivering a baby girl, as she had lost a lot of blood during the

Twenty-two-year-old Rashida Khatoon, a resident of Manor, Palghar, was in severe distress after delivering a baby girl, as she had lost a lot of blood during the delivery and neither of the two hospitals where she was admitted, could not arrange for the O ‘-ve’ blood for the woman. Her life was saved after a local journalist, a gynaecologist and a lawyer stepped up to help her.

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On Sunday, Rashida was admitted to the government hospital in Manor, where she delivered the baby. As she had lost a lot of blood and the hospital could not arrange for the rare O ‘-ve’ blood, she was shifted to Thane Civil Hospital.

However, the Thane hospital could not arrange for the blood either and Rashida was discharged without any transfusion.

Owing to the lockdown, Rashida and her husband Saddam Hussain, 25, could not find a vehicle to ferry them to their village, which is around 60km from Thane. So they carried their child and began walking, but were stopped by the police after they covered 4km. After the couple revealed that they were walking towards their village from the hospital as they could not find a vehicle, the police arranged for an autorickshaw and asked the driver to drop the three to Manor.

The driver however, dropped them at Mastan Naka on the highway, which was 3km away from their village in Tamsai. So the couple began walking again in the scorching heat, until they were spotted by a local journalist Sumit Patil.

“I was shocked to that the woman was unable to find blood. So I called Dr Rajendra Chauhan, a reputed gynaecologist from Palghar, who agreed to help and then arranged for a car to take Rashida to Kanta Hospital, which is owned by him,” said Patil.

Dr Chauhan then took to social media and appealed citizens to donate blood. “The woman had lost a lot of blood but because her blood group was rare, it was not easily available in Palghar. So I made an appeal on social media, after which some donors came forward. We then administered three bottles of blood, and after the patient’s haemoglobin count increased, we discharged her on Tuesday afternoon,” said Dr Chauhan.

Dr Chauhan then called his lawyer friend Sudhir Gupta, who took the family to their village in his car.

Dr Chauhan learnt that the couple hailed from Uttar Pradesh and worked as daily wage labourers. They had lost their jobs owing to the lockdown. He then asked his friend to help the couple. “I found that the couple was living in extreme poverty and could not pay for medicines. So I bought medicines that would last for a month and Sudhir provided them with groceries and other essentials.”

Rashida is recovering well at her home, said Dr Chauhan.