Details
“Raju Vernekar
vernekar.raj@gmail.com
Usually police personnel in Khaki uniform are viewed as stern people engaged in implementing law and dealing with criminals, but there are a plenty of examples when they go out of the way to perform their duty. PSI Priya Srikant Garud attached to Azad Maidan police station, recently played the role of almost a mid wife to ensure safe delivery of a child of a mentally deranged pregnant woman, lying on the foot path in South Mumbai, that too when it was raining cats and dogs.
An arduous journey of PSI Garud, residing at Sion, who was on night duty on 4 July, started right from the time she began journey towards her office in South Mumbai. Due to heavy downpour, the lady officer, travelling on a mobike reached office late and that too fully drenched. She attended to her duties on mobile van No 1 till 3 AM and then went to the police station. It was 4 AM by the time she reached the police station.
Even as she was removing her raincoat, she received a call on cell phone, that a woman on a footpath was groaning and needed urgent help. She reached near Metro cinema walking and saw that a semi-clad woman in the age group 30-35 years was lying on the footpath and was crying due to labour pains. In view of the scare of COVID-19, no one was even prepared to go near her.
In the incessant rains, that woman, PSI Gorad and her staff members were full wet. Despite that, one of the woman police constables, whose house was nearby, went home and brought some clothes and bed sheet and gave some relief to the shivering woman. However by that time she began delivering the child. A 70 to 75 year old woman who was nearby volunteered and the woman delivered a baby.
But there was no one to cut the umbilical cord. So, desperate telephone calls were made to nearby Cama Hospital. However RMO on duty refused to send an ambulance to the spot and insisted that the woman be brought to the hospital. As such PSI Gorad personally went to the hospital and requested doctors. But they refused to budge and insisted that the woman be brought to the hospital since the umbilical cord cannot be cut on the road. As such the police team continued their efforts to get an ambulance.
Then PSI Garud telephoned police control room, different hospitals and practically everyone she knew. After a lot of efforts, one ambulance reached the spot. But it was without a doctor and a nurse. Eventually the ambulance attendant left in a huff saying that it was not his job to attend to such work. By that time it was 5 AM. In between rodents began crawling near woman making the situation more worrisome.
With the break of down, there was some light which rekindled hopes. But by that time the crows began hovering around the woman. The police team had a tough job of shooing them away. After desperate attempts an ambulance (108 services) came from Prabhadevi at 7 AM. Fortunately the ambulance had a nurse as well as a doctor. After giving a PPE kit, the doctor cut the umbilical cord and the baby began movements and the police team breathed a sigh of relief. Then the mother and child were shifted to the hospital. The herculean efforts by police team paid off and everyone was happy that the efforts of 3-4 hours proved fruitful.
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