Central Railway comes to the help of two people who wanted medicines from Mumbai

india

Updated: Apr 28, 2020 18:35 IST

The Central Railway authorities have emerged as a saviour for two patients --- one suffering from cancer and another from heart condition --- as they organised critical medical supplies for them in distant Gorakhpur and relatively closer Chiplun.

Amruta Chaurasia, a cancer patient and a Mumbai resident, who had gone to attend a family wedding at a village in eastern Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur district, was stuck with limited medicine supply after the central government announced the nationwide lockdown restrictions on March 24. Initially, the lockdown was enforced for 21 days from March 25 and then further extended for another 19 days till May 3 to contain the spread of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak.

Her son Sandeep, a Thane resident, unsuccessfully tried to courier her the life-saving drugs. Then, he reached out to India Post, a subsidiary of Union Ministry of Communications, via Twitter and he was told to contact Indian Railways.

This led Sandeep to contact Central Railway authorities, and soon an officer, who lives in Mulund, collected the medicines from him.

“On April 18, the medicines were brought to Kalyan station and sent to Gorakhpur via Nagpur in two separate parcel trains because there is no direct rail link between the two places,” said a Central Railway official.

Amruta received the medicines on April 21, and now she has adequate supply to see her through the rest of the ongoing lockdown restrictions, which are likely to be lifted after May 3.

Similarly, on Monday, the Central Railway made an unscheduled halt of a parcel train at Chiplun station under the Konkan Railway to deliver medicines to a patient, who is suffering from a heart condition and originally a resident of Vikhroli, Mumbai.

The railway personnel had collected the medicines from his Vikroli residence and the drugs were sent from Panvel station to Chiplun.

On Sunday, the zonal railway assisted in transporting camel milk from Falna in Rajasthan to Secunderabad, Telangana, for a two-year-old child, via Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT). “There is no direct rail link between Falna and Secunderabad, leading to a 28-hour detour via CMST. On Sunday morning, the milk arrived at Bandra Terminus in Mumbai from Rajasthan and was loaded at CSMT for Secunderabad,” the official added.

Earlier, the railways had launched a helpline portal SETU (Swift & Efficient Transport of Utilities) to assist people in booking the supply of essential commodities via parcel trains during the ongoing lockdown restrictions.

“We’re transporting essential items such as medicines for patients across the country via parcel trains. Personal protective equipment (PPE) kits, other emergency healthcare items, etc; are being delivered to strengthen the government’s efforts to rein in the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Shivaji Sutar, chief public relations officer, Central Railway.