No lal batti: Chennai halts traffic to save life

[cloud_9]

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.

When did emergency vehicles started caring about lights and traffic.

 

[Levina]

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.

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.

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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@levina

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.

Most of the countries have hard shoulders which are used by ambulance or police vehicles incase there's traffic.Any other vehicle which uses these hard shoulders are fined.
Why doesnt India have this rule??

Nonetheless proper coordination and will of the ppl involved saved a life and that matters.Hats off!

 

[nair]

Most of the countries have hard shoulders which are used by ambulance or police vehicles incase there's traffic.Any other vehicle which uses these hard shoulders are fined.
Why doesnt India have this rule??

Nonetheless proper coordination and will of the ppl involved saved a life and that matters.Hats off!

Well how many cities have roads which could accommodate a dedicated line for emergency vehicles? Every road is running above its capacity, and i hardly see any plans thinking of future.....

 

[Levina]

Well how many cities have roads which could accommodate a dedicated line for emergency vehicles? Every road is running above its capacity, and i hardly see any plans thinking of future.....

They could have done that atleast in the metropolitan cities like Chennai
And as far as i remember Delhi has hard shoulders but since no such rule exits ppl often use hard shoulders during peak time.

 

[Prayas]

@IndoUS lol ur talking bout night,in day many not follow traffic signal in Nagpur only they follow it when they see mama & mavashi on street.
Were do u live in Nagpur

 

[Gandhi G in da house]

Good stuff Chennai

 

[chhota bheem]

I had a personal experience ,couple of years back one of my friend from kerala had an accident and was admitted in KMC his parents had come from kerala by sumo.And they wanted to shift him to kerala and where in the way back to arrange treatment there,once they left the hospital the my friends condition became critical and they where not reach able,some friends called me hoping i will be able to stop them as they had to pass near to my room,i waited and couldnot find them,dint know what to do,i went straight to an inspector who was standing and informed him,all i knew was its a kerala registered sumo,the Inspector sent the info in the set and in next 5 mins they stopped the sumo just near the out edges of city and sent them back to the hospital.unfortunately my friend passed away by the time they reached.

 

[satishkumarcsc]

This has been done a lot of times in Chennai...only a few get reported.

 

[Thirdfront]

When did emergency vehicles started caring about lights and traffic.

They don't. But roads will be clear of other vehicles in the junctions.

 

[jha]

Good Job... Want to see more such incidents happening in Indian cities.

Wish Speedy recovery to the patient... And RIP to the donor..

 

[Soumitra]

They could have done that atleast in the metropolitan cities like Chennai
And as far as i remember Delhi has hard shoulders but since no such rule exits ppl often use hard shoulders during peak time.

In delhi the emergency vehicles can use the BRT lane which is barred for all other vehicles except busses

 

[Levina]

In delhi the emergency vehicles can use the BRT lane which is barred for all other vehicles except busses

Great!!!
Then why not make such BRT lanes in other cities too??

But I wandt talking about BRT lanes really.Wasnt there hard shoulders marked in Delhi??

 

[Soumitra]

Great!!!
Then why not make such BRT lanes in other cities too??

But I wandt talking about BRT lanes really.Wasnt there hard shoulders marked in Delhi??

All these measures will not work as we Indians dont have good traffic sense.

I remember my brother had come back after around 1 year in US and he was super critical of Indian drivers. I laughed and said to him bro you were also an Indian driver driving on these roads in this fashion only 1 year ago.

He was not touching the horn. I said to him "You may not like to honk the horn but this is Inida not the US. If you dont honk the horn you will get hit and people will not move from your path."

 

[acetophenol]

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!

Malayalam movie 'Traffic [2011]" was based on a even more awesome "Hithendran" incident in which the heart of 16 year old Hithendran was transported at 120kmph covering 14km in 11 minutes,back in 2008.
Pics of 2008 incident:

^^Hithendran

^^Heart into police car
My Dear Diary : Hithendran - Person who steal Hearts
Traffic (2011 film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[TejasMk3]

Malayalam movie 'Traffic [2011]" was based on a even more awesome "Hithendran" incident in which the heart of 16 year old Hithendran was transported at 120kmph covering 14km in 11 minutes,back in 2008.
Pics of 2008 incident:

^^Hithendran

^^Heart into police car
My Dear Diary : Hithendran - Person who steal Hearts
Traffic (2011 film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I was actually thinking about Chennaiyil oru naal, forgot about the original Traffic