Cabbie donates blood to save life of passenger’s kin

In the past four days the city has witnessed two humanitarian incidents in which two drivers of app-based cab saved lives of two patients.

The latest incident occurred when a cab driver Apu Shaw donated blood to save the life of a patient whose relative had hired the cab for collecting blood for the patient who was suffering from dengue. The patient’s relative Vivek Saraf was running from one blood bank to another in search of blood.

Sensing the need, the driver Apu voluntarily came forward and donated blood for the treatment of the victim. He accepted a late night booking from Vivek Saraf near RG Kar Medical Hospital who asked the driver to drop him near another medical establishment near Hatibagan. 

While waiting for the next ride, Apu Shaw was surprised to find that Vivek had booked a cab to Marwari Relief society. During that time Vivek mentioned that his 21-year-old relative who was suffering from dengue needed urgent blood transfusion and that he was desperately doing the rounds of hospitals and blood banks to arrange for it. He requested Apu to wait for him near the hospital as it would be difficult to find another cab given the late hour. He realised that time was of the essence and that something needed to be done.

Watching him run around different blood banks to get donors as the patient was in critical condition the driver came forward.

“It was heart wrenching that a young boy who has his whole life in front of him had to suffer like this. I immediately volunteered to be a donor. All of us must remember that we are humans and we must stand by those who face a medical emergency. If we don’t come forward and address the need of the patients in distress everything becomes meaningless. I hope that young boy received treatment in time and lives a healthy life,” Apu said.

Vivek was stunned by this gesture and says that words cannot express the feeling he had at that moment. With such simple, yet humane gestures, driver partners like Apu Shaw make the world a better place.

Another app-based cab driver last Sunday timely intervened and rushed a patient to the hospital who suffered a heart attack while travelling in the cab. Timely intervention of the driver has given a fresh lease of life to Anand Singh who suffered heart attack on his way to Minto Park after boarding the vehicle from Tollygunge Tram depot early Sunday morning.

Soon after boarding the vehicle, Singh fell ill and complained of chest pain as he suffered heart attack. Md Azaruddin, the driver could easily understand that the patient’s condition was fast deteriorating. Realising the fact that any delay could prove fatal to the life of the passenger, the cab driver took him to the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital and saved his life.

These two incidents come at a time when there have been number of incidents where app-based cab 

drivers were accused of harassing passengers.