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No lal batti: Chennai halts traffic to save life

Soumitra

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No lal batti: Chennai halts traffic to save life

CHENNAI: When it's more common to read reports of people losing their lives because of their inability to reach the hospital on time because of VIP traffic restrictions, here is a heart-warming story of traffic coming to a halt in Chennai to save the life of an ordinary patient.

On Monday, life in the heart of Chennai came to a halt on Monday to save a life. In a textbook example of precise coordination between surgeons of two hospitals and the city traffic police, a medical team transported a heart from Government General Hospital to Fortis Malar Hospitals in Adyar, about 12km away, in less than 14 minutes by creating a "green corridor" - that is, red-light free access.

"As soon as the heart was brought, the transplant began. By 10.15pm, the heart was beating in the patient's chest," said Dr Suresh Rao, chief anesthetist at Fortis Malar.

For those unfamiliar with Chennai, it's important to know that the road connecting the two hospitals is a key arterial road, usually carrying heavy traffic. That the police, doctors and the ordinary people cooperated to block it off for saving a life is obviously a great gesture by a city with a big heart.


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The ambulance carrying the heart, harvested from a 27-year-old man who died in a traffic accident and preserved in a special container at 4 degrees Celsius, started from Government hospital at 6.44pm and reached Fortis Malar 13 minutes and 22 seconds later, at 6.57pm. Normally, a vehicle takes 45 minutes to cover the stretch at peak hour.

At the private hospital, the parents of Hvovi Minocherchomji's, a 21-year-old BCom student from Mumbai, received the heart - the mother in tears, the father with a prayer on his lips.

Malar surgeons immediately got to the job of transplanting the organ on the recipient who was kept ready. Through the day, the teams of doctors at the two hospitals had been keeping each other informed about the condition of the donor and the recipient. The liver and kidneys went to other hospitals.

Malar got a call as early as 5.45am on Monday that a brain-dead patient may be taken off the ventilator in a few hours and that a heart, a liver and kidneys would be available for donation. The Mumbai woman turned out to be luckier than five others awaiting a heart transplant, as the donor's blood group and body weight matched only with hers among the other patients.

Almost simultaneously, Karunasagar, the additional commissioner of police (traffic) was informed about the need to transport the organ. By afternoon, the traffic police were ready to create the green corridor, most of it along the Beach Road and Santhome High Road, two of the busiest stretches in the evening.


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After formalities, GH surgeons informed their counterparts in Malar that they would start harvesting the donor's heart by 5.30pm, after the liver and kidneys were taken out. Around the same time, the Malar team started preparing the recipient. The special container with the heart surrounded by a perfusion fluid and ice in separate sachets was put in the ambulance at 6.40pm.

A human heart can be preserved for up to four hours, but experts say the earlier the transplant, the higher the chances of success.

Now it was for the traffic police to ensure a safe and speedy passage for the organ. C Kathir, a seasoned ambulance driver, was chosen for the mission. Deputy commissioner Sivanandan had charted the route the ambulance would take. By 3pm, he had in place 26 of his men at the 12 intersections the ambulance was to pass. As the vehicle passed each signal - touching 100kmph at times - a pilot radioed in the location to the control room as also the police teams along the corridor.

"It was a smooth operation but for a minor bottleneck at Muthusamy Road where the ambulance had to take a wrong way to evade a blocking MTC bus," said M Selvaraj, the pilot.

Dr Suresh Rao, chief anaesthetist at Malar Hospitals said the transplant would take at least four hours. "As of now everything has worked fine," he said. Karunasagar said the city traffic police have proved repeatedly their mettle in creating green corridors without affecting normal life on the roads.

No lal batti: Chennai halts traffic to save life - The Times of India

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there are numerous threads on PDF about Rapes, Riots, Murders etc. in India mostly started my our dear neighbours in the west. Let us for a change discuss something positive also.
 
Is there a system where traffic lights turn green when a fire truck or ambulance approaches it?
 
Heart warming to know such actions of Chennai doctors, police and also the citizens. I wish the recipient of the heart a speedy recovery and strength to the family.

@IndoUS - you give green lights to ambulances and fire trucks, half of India would be abusing that system.
 
Hopefully not. The idea is to save a life in isolation, not take many more in the process.:D
In US at-least, sensors pick up emergency vehicles and turn green for them and red for others, some confirmed that it also the case in Dubai. Sadly in India, it is not uncommon for Ambulances to get struck in traffic. What is worst, people want to get in front and back of ambulances as they think others will give way. Do that in US, you will be slapped with $200 (for first offence) fine for tailgating....
 
There was a movie made about a situation like this a few years ago...and Wow movie became reality!

That stretch of road is horrible, especially from 5-9 pm. Quite cool that they managed to do it. Kudos the the traffic police!
 
Good to see Police working like this for the Aam Aadmi
 
In US at-least, sensors pick up emergency vehicles and turn green for them and red for others, some confirmed that it also the case in Dubai. Sadly in India, it is not uncommon for Ambulances to get struck in traffic. What is worst, people want to get in front and back of ambulances as they think others will give way. Do that in US, you will be slapped with $200 (for first offence) fine for tailgating....

Well, I meant that as a joke, given how disciplined our road traffic is. Traffic signal preemption is enforced in many parts of Europe too.
 
Chennai is the only state of India with the highest accidents/deaths ....12000 plus..
 
Hopefully not. The idea is to save a life in isolation, not take many more in the process.:D
Mate, I am not saying that they instantly turn green rather when the light senses that a fire truck or ambulance is approaching it (say that the ambulance is 30 sec away from the intersection and has its siren and lights on, it will halt the traffic for that intersection and clear the lane that the emergency vehicle is on.

Well, I meant that as a joke, given how disciplined our road traffic is. Traffic signal preemption is enforced in many parts of Europe too.
Having lived in Nagpur I can say no one follows traffic at night in that city.
 
Mate, I am not saying that they instantly turn green rather when the light senses that a fire truck or ambulance is approaching it (say that the ambulance is 30 sec away from the intersection and has its siren and lights on, it will halt the traffic for that intersection and clear the lane that the emergency vehicle is on.


Having lived in Nagpur I can say no one follows traffic at night in that city.

Precisely. An ambulance in an Indian city simply cannot zoom past a traffic junction at full throttle. Some idiot on a vehicle will always come in it's path in violation of traffic rules.:lol:
 
Looking at the traffic situation in the country, there is much need of emergency heli services deployed at least at major hospitals. Actually, the whole emergency infrastructure in the country is outdated and needs a major revamp. Is it something really impossible to accomplish?
 
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