The convoy of 35 ambulances set out from Chennai
Cancer patients from West Bengal and Assam, stranded in Chennai for weeks due to the ongoing coronavirus-triggered lockdown, were able to reach home in a convoy of ambulances with the effort of some good samaritans.
The convoy of 35 ambulances set out from the Tamil Nadu capital on Tuesday with 41 patients, of whom 38 were from West Bengal and three from Assam, West Bengal Ham Radio Club founder Ambarish Nag Biswas said. The three patients from Assam reached their destinations on Saturday, a day after the others from West Bengal had arrived.
Biswas said that the ambulances commenced the journey back to Chennai on Sunday with some medicines and masks handed over by people here for their relatives who are in the southern city for treatment or other requirements.
Biswas said that the ambulances commenced the journey back to Chennai on Sunday with some medicines and masks handed over by people here for their relatives who are in the southern city for treatment or other requirements. The stranded patients had completed their treatment schedule at the hospitals, but were caught in the lockdown and were unable to return.
“With some of them still weak from chemotherapy and other treatments, it was not possible for them to stay at lodges or rented places owing to the fear of catching coronavirus or other infections, while the hospital bills were shooting up,” Biswas said.