UP: Dial 112 cop donates blood needed during woman's delivery

When neither her relatives nor her husband could reach a government hospital in Noida during her delivery due to the COVID-19 lockdown, an Uttar Pradesh police personnel donated his blood to help the woman during the operation.

Neha Thakur, 24, is based in Delhi but has been living with her parents in Noida since last six months. She was admitted to the district hospital on Monday for delivery where doctors told her that two units of blood was required for the operation, her father said.

Her 28-year-old husband also could not be there during the critical situation as he was stuck due to the lockdown at his home in Delhi's Najafgarh, her father said.

"I called up our relatives in Delhi for blood donation but they were unable to come because of the lockdown restrictions. I also don't have any vehicle and getting a pass or permission would have taken much time. So I called up 112 for emergency service and sought police help. Help arrived soon in the form of two cops one of whom offered to donate his blood to help my daughter," Neha's father Dilip Mishra told PTI.

According to a police spokesperson, when they got the distress call, the message was relayed on their group to know if anybody could voluntarily donate blood and they got a positive response from officials deployed on police response vehicle (PRV) 4687.

"Constable Harendra Kumar and PRV pilot Pradeep Kumar immediately reached out to the caller and Harendra Kumar donated his blood at Kailash Hospital in Sector 27 that helped the father get equal unit of blood matching her daughter's blood type," the spokesperson said.

Mishra said the operation was ultimately carried out around 10.30 am on Tuesday and his daughter gave birth to a baby boy. "Both of them are fine now," he added.

Mishra, who lives in Chhijarsi village, said he works for a private company in Surajpur, while his son-in-law Ranjan Thakur works for a car manufacturing company in Haryana's Gurgaon.

"My daughter and son-in-law stay in Delhi's Najafgarh. Neha has been staying us for more than six months now. They have one more child, a three-year-old boy, who too was born in Noida," he added.

While Mishra is happy now that his daughter and grandson are fine, he is also grateful to the policemen who came to his help. He also shared how he had to walk between the district hospital in Sector 30 and the Kailash hospital in Sector 27 for procuring blood due to the lockdown.

"There's no conveyance available due to the lockdown and I don't have any personal vehicle. I had to walk at least four times between the two hospitals as I desperately needed the blood for the operation," he said.

"They are all like God to me... the policemen, the doctors, and whoever has come to the help of my family at this important time," he added.

Meanwhile, the police spokesperson said constable Harendra Kumar has been awarded Rs 5,000 from Dial 112 headquarters in Lucknow for his humanitarian act.

On April 19 also, two policemen deployed on PRV duty of 112 had donated blood needed for the delivery of a woman at the ESI hospital in Sector 24 of Noida.

The woman had given birth to a baby boy and both were doing fine after the operation, according to officials, even as the PRV personnel were given an award of Rs 5,000 each from Lucknow headquarters and citations from Noida Police Commissioner Alok Singh.