Good Samaritan Dr Kafil gave hope in desperate
LUCKNOW: For some people crisis brings out the best in them. At a time when all hell had broken loose in Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College following disruption of oxygen supply, one man— Dr Kafil Ahmed—of the hospital responded to the call of duty like a good Samaritan.
As patients began collapsing due to lack of oxygen, the man in-charge of the encephalitis ward rushed to the ward and made some last ditch efforts to save lives. For several hours, Dr Kafil became a one-man army for junior doctors and hospital staff giving them instructions and showing attendants on how to provide artificial respiration to patients.
However, things gradually began getting out of control. With supply of new oxygen cylinders still two-and-a-half hours away at around 7.30 am Thursday, it did not take Dr Kafil time to realise that desperate situation required desperate measure. He rang up around half-a-dozen suppliers of oxygen cylinders in the district. Only one Mayur Gas agreed to provide them with a condition that down payment had to be made strictly in cash.
With no time to lose, Dr Kafil whipped out his wallet, took out his ATM card and sent one of his staff to get the cash from the nearest teller machine. He then took out whatever money he had in his pocket and gave it to the truck driver of Imperial Gas Service from Faizabad to buy fuel and rush to Khalilabad to get supply.
The oxygen shortage in the paediatric ward, meanwhile, only made things worse. Without wasting time, Dr Kafil got into his car and drove down to the private hospital of his friend and borrowed three jumbo oxygen cylinders, put them in his car and rushed back to BRD.
Meanwhile, owner of Mayur Gas agency reneged on his promise to refill the cylinders. Dr Kafil brought the matter to the notice of the authorities and sough their help but by then it was too late. Several attempts by HT to get in touch with Dr Kafil, however, proved futile as his cellphone remained out of network coverage area.
Ironically, it was another supplier, whose contract was not renewed by the hospital authorities, who came to the rescue. “When we came to know about the shortage of oxygen and the deaths following it, we supplied around 200-300 cylinders to the hospital out of humanity,” Praveen Modi, owner of Modi Chemical Private Limited told news agency ANI. BRD hospital still owes him ₹20 lakh.
“Since March, the college administration had stopped dealing with me,” he said.