Man travels over 150 km to deliver critical medicine to Hepatitis-B patient in Bengal

Kolkata: An anxious Hepatitis-B patient and her family with a depleting stock of critical medicine in a remote village in West Midnapore district were relieved when a few good samaritans came to her rescue and delivered the drugs to her doorstep after travelling over 150 km amid the ongoing lockdown.

Saumitra Maur, a relative and neighbour of the patient, Purnima Maur, said he contacted a ham radio club in desperation after all efforts to buy the medicines in the locality proved futile.

Purnima and her family, residents of Mangrul village at Chandrakona in West Midnapore district, were at a loss as to how they would get the medicine with only a few days’ stocks left.

“I had learnt of West Bengal Radio Club from a friend and contacted it to see if they could help after all other recourse failed,” Saumitra, himself a pharmacy student, told PTI over the phone.

He said that the doctor had prescribed Purnima ‘Tenofovir Disproxil Fumarate’ tablets for a one-year course and that the stocks got depleted to just a few tablets as it could not be found in any local chemist shop and travelling to far-off towns was difficult owing to the lockdown.

Saumitra said that they were assured assistance after he told the club’s secretary Ambarish Nag Biswas about the urgent need for the medicine.

“We were informed of the requirement of the particular medicine for a critical patient suffering from Hepatitis-B on Monday and after an extensive search, found that it was available with Sonarpur Liver Foundation in South 24 Parganas district,” Biswas, the founder secretary of the West Bengal Radio Club, said.

The medicine was delivered to the patient’s home on Tuesday evening, Biswas said.

“Our member Souparna Sen, collected the medicine from the Liver Foundation on Tuesday morning and drove over 150 km to the village in Chandrakona to deliver it to Purnima Maur’s home,” he said.

Saumitra said that a month’s stock was handed over by Sen. “We have been asked to call again if the COVID-19-related lockdown persists for long and we cannot buy the medicine in our locality,” he said.