New Delhi:
On Saturday afternoon, the police of two states came together to help transport a live heart across 30 km on a route usually jammed with vehicles, to be transplanted into a 16-year-old whose heart was failing.
The Gurgaon Police and the Delhi Police created a "green corridor" for a convoy to carry the heart from a 30-year-old donor at Gurgaon's Fortis hospital to Escorts Hospital in Delhi.
It took 21 minutes for the donor's heart to reach Escorts as other traffic came to a halt along the route. On an average day, it takes about an hour and a half to travel those 30 km.
23 police personnel were deployed to ensure that the organs reached quickly. The police said all traffic signals were turned manual and a pilot police bike accompanied the ambulance that carried the heart.
The police said Fortis Hospital Gurgaon made an email request to the Commissioner of Police at about noon on Friday for the green corridor. An IT professional had been declared brain dead that morning and the family wanted to donate his organs.
Minutes after the heart was harvested, it was in the ambulance speeding to Escorts.
The Gurgaon Police said they have never held a mock drill for such a situation, but had helped transport an organ through such a corridor once before.
A green corridor is created by ensuring traffic lights are green and roads clear to allow an ambulance to travel unhindered.