Shanghai, March 21 (IANS) Modern communication technology proved a possible life-saver when an online appeal prompted police to escort an ambulance carrying a sick baby in China.
The four-month-old boy took ill due to meningitis and was rushed from Ningbo to Shanghai under police escort after a parents’ friend sought help through a microblog site, the Shanghai Daily said here.
The appeal caught the attention of the people and the police.
The police in Zhejiang province and Shanghai sent squad cars to lead the ambulance and the parents’ car and updated information through Weibo.com. They called for cooperation from vehicles on the route.
The ambulance had to travel a distance of 220 km between Ningbo city and Shanghai.
Doctors said the speedy transportation was important to save the boy’s life.
The baby’s father Hu Xi said that after doctors in Ningbo expressed their inability to treat his son, they decided to rush to Shanghai.
“I’m so grateful to the police and all the residents in Shanghai who gave way to the ambulance…,” Hu said.
The police help came after a microblog post. It said the baby was in a coma and had been diagnosed with meningitis the previous day.
“One ambulance and one car driven by family members will transport the baby and we hope local police can give help since the vehicles will speed in order to save the baby’s life,” the post said.
Not only was police escort arranged, police in Ningbo called their counterparts in Shanghai to help escort the ambulance. Also traffic officers in Shanghai’s Jinshan, Songjiang, Pudong and Minhang districts along the way were on standby.
“It’s not about escorting the ambulance with a police car. It’s about coordinating every unit in the system,” said an officer.
“It was actually not easy to drive so fast on the highway at night, as there were many trucks. The traffic off the highway was even more difficult to deal with.”
Shanghai police said they arranged a succession of police cars to clear the way.
