india

Updated: May 11, 2019 07:45 IST

Twenty-six year old Md. Panaulla Ahmed was resting after his ‘sehri’ (pre-dawn meal) on Wednesday morning, the second day of the month-long Ramzan fast, when he noticed his roommate Tapash Bhagawati was upset.

An active member of Team Humanity, a group of voluntary blood donors, Tapash had got a call the previous night about a patient needing two units of O positive blood which the latter’s family had tried hard to procure but with no success.

“I asked him what the problem was and immediately offered to donate my blood,” said Ahmed, a ward boy at a private hospital in Guwahati.

Tapash, who works as operation theatre technician at the same hospital, wasn’t sure whether Ahmed could help since the latter was fasting for Ramzan and could weaken after donating blood.

“I had got negative responses from many before Ahmed offered. I was happy, but didn’t want him to break his fast. But he was adamant,” said Tapash.

The two friends rushed to another hospital in the city where Ranjan Gogoi, a 50-year-old businessman from Dhemaji in upper Assam, was about to be operated for the removal of two tumours in his stomach.

“I consulted some ‘maulvis’ (Muslim religious scholar) who encouraged me to go ahead with my plan but advised not to continue with the fast if I felt weak,” said Ahmed, whose blood group is B positive.

“I donated one unit of blood, which the hospital kept in their blood bank and they released a unit of O positive blood for the patient. Once I was done, I had to break my fast and eat something,” he added.

Doctors removed both the tumours in Gogoi’s stomach and will test them for cancer. The patient is recuperating in hospital while Ahmed has resumed his Ramzan fast.

“We are very thankful for Ahmed’s gesture. I was very surprised to learn that he broke his ‘roza’ (fast) to donate blood. I was even more surprised when he refused to accept anything from us in return,” said Gogoi’s brother-in-law, Binod Baishya.