This plasma was delivered at 6.15 am on Saturday at the Dibrugarh medical school.
Guwahati:
When they say not all heroes wear a cape, that’s what they mean. A dozen young men from Assam drove their cars at breakneck speed on Saturday – almost like a relay race – handing a cooler containing blood plasma from one group to another, traveling a distance of 450 km from Guwahati to Dibrugarh in less than 8 hours. to save the life of a COVID-19 warrior battling the deadly infection in the intensive care unit of Assam Medical College (AMCH) hospital in Dibrugarh.
It all started late Friday evening when Dibrugarh-based doctor and social worker Bhaskar Papukon Gogoi received a call regarding an urgent need for blood plasma for Bijurani Gogoi, an AMCH staff nurse, who was infected with the coronavirus in the performance of his duties. and fights for life. AMCH’s plasma bank was empty, the closest option was Jorhat Medical College Hospital (JMCH), but it also had no stock.
“I was able to get a plasma unit at Guwahati Medical College, but the problem was how it was going to be delivered. The government machine is already overloaded with the COVID spike in Assam,” Dr Gogoi said, who runs his own plasma donation campaign. in Dibrugarh and had helped organize blood plasma for a few other patients in Dibrugarh in the past.
It was at this point that Dr Gogoi called the Dibrugarh Unit of Marwari Yuva Manch (MYM), which is one of the largest volunteer youth organizations in the country with members of the Marwari community living across the country.
Earlier this week, Dr Gogoi organized a blood plasma donation to Dibruagrh with the help of MYM.
“At around 9 p.m., our unit in Dibruagrh informed us. In the past we had been actively involved in Assam to help the poor, flood relief, blood donation but it was a new crisis but we decided to take the responsibility of taking the unit. of blood plasma. from Guwahati to Dibrugarh, ”Rahul Agarwal, general secretary of the northeast section of MYM, told GalacticGaming. MYM has nearly 7,000 active members in North East India.
There was a huge challenge – inter-district movement in Assam is banned and there is a nighttime curfew every day between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. and on weekends there is a full lockdown.
This is where MYM Northeast President Mohit Nahata who lives in Kokrajhar activated all MYM units between Guwahati and Dibrugarh. It was decided that each of the district units would bring the blood plasma to the border of their district and that the next district unit will wait at the border to take over. Mr. Nahata monitored the entire process over the phone.
At 10:35 p.m., Rahul Agarwal and Ravi Surekha received the blood plasma unit from Guwahati Medical College (GMC) and rushed to Nagaon, where they handed the unit over to their Nagaon team, who handed it over to another. Bokakhat team.
“It was like a relay race, running against the clock and the opponent, passing the baton. Bokakhat’s team gave it to Jorhat, Jorhat’s team drove to the Sivasagar border and Sivasagar’s team led him to Moran and eventually Moran to Dibrugarh, ”Rahul Agarwal added.
“We had never done anything of this magnitude. We are happy to have succeeded. Our teams were stopped by the police in several places but we showed the letter from GMC and between Jorhat and Joran our teams had to negotiate heavy rains. we were awake and following the traveling teams to live venues, ”said Subir Kejriwal who received the blood plasma in Dibrugarh at 6:14 am and handed it over to AMCH.
For Dr Gogoi it was a sleepless night but he came with the Dibrugarh team to receive the blood plasma.
“It was a night that I will never forget in my life. I also went with the team from Dibrugarh to get the cooler containing blood plasma. It would not have been possible without these young people. They are the shining example of how young people and civil society can make a difference in this war on COVID, ”added Dr Gogoi.
The patient received plasma on Saturday, AMCH sources added.
