Pune: Good Samaritan carries COVID positive woman to ambulance

Mehab Qureshi

Pune, 18 July 2020: Amid the stringent 10-day lockdown, a 95-year-old woman in the city’s Janata Vasahat slum was tested positive for Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Her entire family was quarantined and the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) sent an ambulance to admit her to the nearest hospital on Thursday.

The elderly woman was trapped inside her house, which is situated in a hilly location. The lanes are narrow, and the PMC workers weren’t able to carry her on a stretcher. Neighbours who also wished to help were afraid as they thought they would contract the virus if they went near the woman.

At this point, she had a high fever, and the rescue operation was on a halt. So a 35-year-old social worker Nilesh Pawar observed all of this and decided to help the old lady. He carried her on his shoulder to the ambulance. In the video of this incident that is being circulated, Pawar is seen carrying the woman on his shoulder. He is also wearing a personal protective equipment (PPE) kit as a precautionary measure.

Talking to Punekarnews.in, Pawar, a member of Shree Waghjai Mitra Mandal Foundation, said, “It was impossible to carry her on a stretcher, as the lanes are narrow. They had also become slippery due to constant rains. The rescue operation stopped because of the challenges of moving her. I asked PMC officials if I could carry her, but they only agreed to allow me if I wore a PPE kit. So I carried her on my shoulder. She was burning with fever. She thanked me after I carried her to the ambulance.”

An official from Dattawadi Police station said, “It is not the first time that Pawar has shown this tremendous courage, he has also helped during the food distribution in the stringent lockdown period.”