Traffic came to a standstill for nearly 30 minutes on Sunday morning to allow the movement of an ambulance to airlift a critically ill six-month-old child to Delhi for treatment.

Guwahati: In a significant move, the Assam police on Sunday facilitated shifting of a critically ill six-months old child to New Delhi for a better treatment by setting up a green corridor on 45-km stretch of busiest roads of Guwahati.

The green corridor was set up along a 45-km stretch from Pratiksha Hospital on VIP Road to the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati. Traffic came to a standstill for nearly 30 minutes on Sunday morning to allow the movement of an ambulance to airlift a critically ill six-month-old child to Delhi for treatment.

The boy, Snigdharaag Bhuyan, who hails from Biswanath Chariali in upper Assam, has been suffering from a rare infection of the lung and spinal cord, and was flown in an air ambulance for treatment at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi.

It usually takes nearly 90 minutes to travel the distance but on Sunday with effort of the police, public and local television channels, the ambulance carrying the child reached the airport in 26 minutes. The air ambulance left Guwahati airport at 11.50 am and was expected to reach Delhi airport within four hours.

Snigdharaag was kept on ventilation at Pratiksha Hospital for two months but in order to seek better care, his parents decided to take him to Delhi. The Guwahati city police commissioner Hiren Nath who took a call to facilitate a green corridor in one of the busiest roads of Guwahati said, “Since it was a genuine case of urgency and required our intervention, we sought the help of the public. It was a relief to see that people responded well, allowed the child to get airlifted within stipulated time passage of the doctors.”

“We are thankful to the public, police and the media for helping us in our time of need. I hope such steps are taken for others as well when needed,” the boy’s mother Madhusmita Saikia Bhuyan told reporters. The police commissioner said that a green corridor is being set up in Delhi as well so that Snigdharaag can be shifted from the Indira Gandhi International Airport to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.

In March this year, an eight-day-old baby from Dibrugarh in upper Assam was flown to Delhi for emergency treatment and a similar green corridor was set up in Delhi at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention. The police commissioner said that such step would also help in sensitizing the people as every second or minute matters a lot in case of an emergency.