VIJAYAWADA: The timely response of Andhra Pradesh police in creating a green corridor for an oxygen tanker to travel from Dharmavaram in East Godavari district to Vijayawada has saved hundreds of lives of COVID-19 patients who are under treatment at Government General Hospital (GGH) on Friday wee hours.
Vijayawada city police commissioner Bathini Sreenivasulu said around 400 Covid patients are on oxygen at Government General Hospital in Vijayawada which was waiting for oxygen supply from Odisha.
The staff tracking the movement of the oxygen tanker suddenly lost contact and they immediately raised alert. As it was a matter of life and death of 400 people, GGH officials immediately contacted Vijayawada police.
They said a medical-oxygen carrying tanker left Odisha’s Angul on Thursday and had gone off the radar on its way back to Vijayawada and couldn’t be tracked on the GPS around 1 am. The tanker is carrying 18 tonnes of medical oxygen.
Vijayawada police commissioner immediately alerted all the district SPs about the issue who further instructed all the Station House Officers (SHO’s) to check any vehicle carrying oxygen stopped or met with an accident in their station limits.
An hour later, Prathipadu police (East Godavari) found the truck driver taking a break near a Dhaba in Dharmavaram. The circle inspector immediately went and inquired the driver, who said that he stopped the truck as he was tired and parked the vehicle as driving in such conditions was dangerous.
“Investigation revealed that the driver halted at a Dhaba due to fatigue caused by the number of trips taken by him. Understanding his situation, officers on the spot made alternate arrangements and a home guard was sent to accompany the driver throughout the way. The tanker was escorted to the destination using the ‘green channel’ to reach the destination as soon as possible,” said the Vijayawada CP Bathini Sreenivasulu.
The medical-oxygen tanker reached Vijayawada GGH before the stipulated time thanks to the ‘green channel’, he added.
Upon learning about the incident, Director General of Police (DGP) Gautam Sawang commended the efforts of Vijayawada city police and other units for delivering oxygen on time by tracing the missing tanker, and ensured its safe delivery.