Bhopalites rush to rly station at midnight to save ailing infant onboard train

Several residents of Bhopal came forward to help a 26-day-old critically ill boy, after they came to know about the shortage of medical oxygen for him on board an express train, in which he was being taken to Delhi from Nagpur for treatment.

After reading posts on social media that medical oxygen was required for the child during the train travel, a number of people arrived at the Bhopal railway station in the early hours of Friday carrying oxygen cylinders with them.

The boy's parents have thanked the people of the Madhya Pradesh capital for their noble gesture aimed at saving the child, who was diagnosed with a defective heart valve.

"We took three cylinders from the residents of Bhopal. The people out there are very, very helpful," the child's mother Nikita Sahare told PTI on Saturday.

The 25 year-old woman said that the doctors in Nagpur told them that their only child needed to be operated upon for the defective heart valve as soon as possible and they were advised to take him to AIIMS, New Delhi.

"Thanks to the help provided by Union minister Nitin Gadkari, who belongs to Nagpur, we immediately got berths in Bilaspur-New Delhi Rajdhani Express (12411) on Thursday. We, along with our baby, embarked on the journey at 8.30 pm, but en route we realised that the stock of medical oxygen cylinders was running short," she said.

Her husband Pravin Sahare then contacted one of his friends, Khushru Yocha, back in Nagpur, and sought help. Apart from calling some social organisations in Bhopal, Yocha posted the requirement of oxygen on social media, tagging railway officials, the boy's family acquaintances said.

Yocha also got in touch with the former divisional railway manager of Bhopal, Uday Borwankar, for help. He called Sahare within half an hour and assured them that they would get an oxygen cylinder at Bhopal railway station, they added.

Meanwhile, the social media post seeking help started doing the rounds, following which help started pouring in.

People from social organisations, good Samaritans, officials from railways and revenue department flooded the railway station to help the couple when their train chugged in at 2 am.

Many organisations reached the station with cylinders, but we took only three cylinders, the infant's mother said.

She said that tests are being done on their child at AIIMS, Delhi.