Silent samaritans to the rescue

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">if one thought the business of doing good was something only the rich could afford, one only needs to take a look around. radhika d srivastava found the most ordinary people touching upon lives in an extraordinary manner. do you know what usha ohri and prit pal singh have in common? apart from modest backgrounds, the two have that fine quality of selflessness that is not only rare but also the stuff that fairy tales are made of.in a cold winter night three years ago, a motorist lay unconscious in the intensive care unit of a private hospital. he had met with an accident and needed blood urgently. his blood group was not available in the hospital’s blood bank. it took just a phone call to not only wake up prit pal singh but also have him rush to the hospital. ‘‘i donated one unit of blood that kept him going till more blood could be arranged,’’ he said matter of factly. a life was saved. in the noisy corridors of the institute rotary cancer hospital, sat mukesh kumar with his wife and only child, rajani. rajani had been detected with bone cancer and kumar had been asked to arrange for rs 20,000 for the initial chemotherapy treatment. kumar had no means of raising the amount. hope was dim. and life, caught between the struggle to exist and a dying child, was a blur. the elderly woman in a blue cotton coat stood out in the crowd. first she offered fruit juice and a packet of biscuit to rajani. as the child ate, kumar broke down and spoke of his predicament.within no time the woman spoke to rajani’s doctor, got a list of medicines and an estimate of the expenditure. a couple of days later, the doctor was provided with the required medicines and rajani had been started on chemotherapy. it was all too good to be true. <span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">from father to son</span> prit pal singh and usha ohri are not paid to do what they do. they belong to that rather small group of people who believe in helping others. plain and simple. speak to them and they have no agenda. they are not even good speakers. they are not bothered about publicity and give a damn about what you may think of them. said singh: ‘‘if i know there is somebody whose life could be saved by a unit of my blood, i see no reason to hesitate.’’ employed as a supervisor in military engineering service in kashmir, singh (46) had gone to visit an ailing relative in a hospital in srinagar when he came to know of an accident victim who urgently required blood. ‘‘i decided to donate. that was the first time i gave blood. and now i donate about a couple of times a month, if need be. i have no problems,’’ he said. singh’s wife works with a blood bank in a private hospital. ‘‘my wife has seen from close quarters how people can become desperate for blood. and that has changed our lives forever,’’ he said. now, singh is on the list of voluntary blood donors maintained by an ngo, safe blood organisation. sbo head dr vinod raina said: ‘‘while the efforts of sporadic donors is appreciated very much, we prefer to be in touch with those who would want to donate regularly.’’ he said: ‘‘the health of regular donors can be monitored and taken care of easily. and the risk of blood infections spreading from a donor to a recipient goes down considerably.’’ singh’s selfless drive is catching on. his son, amit pal singh (18), is all set to become a regular donor. ‘‘my son will donate blood for the first time on baisakhi on april 13,’’ singh said proudly. <span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">it’s a way of life</span> munish sharma (29), an accountant with a private firm in sarita vihar, is another regular blood donor. and he has no specific answer to offer when asked why he became one. ‘‘i thought my blood could benefit somebody,’’ is all he has to say. he said he feels good after donating blood. ‘‘it is convenient for me to donate as the hospital where i go is close to my office. so i do not need to travel much,’’ he said. munish lives with his mother in their rana pratap bagh home. ‘‘i donated for the first time on september 9, 1999,’’ he said. on the first day, he did not know whether he would donate again or not. nothing was planned. but once he found out that he could donate every three months, he did just that. he said: ‘‘i am donating blood as of now. i am not in a position to donate money as i am not very rich. but the day i have more money, i will,’’ he said. <span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">lessons in compassion</span> unlike singh who chose to be a philanthropist easily, usha ohri’s travails inspired her to comfort others. ‘‘my husband passed away 17 years ago. and as i was struggling with his loss, i was diagnosed with blood cancer. it was such a blow that i thought my life was over,’’ she recollected. ohri had practically no support from any quarter. ‘‘my daughter was only eight years old at that time. my friends asked me to give my battle against the disease my best shot,’’ she said. with not much financial reserve, she approached the indian cancer society for help. a newspaper advertisement was put out and donations flowed in. after an aggressive treatment coupled with a bone marrow transplant at sloane kettering cancer hospital in the us, ohri got rid of the disease. ‘‘now i am a regular visitor to aiims and am available at the children’s and leukemia clinic in irch,’’ she said. she is an active member of cancer sahyog, an ngo that works as a support group for cancer patients. along with other volunteers, ohri’s job is to identify needy patients and also work out the formalities of paying for their treatment. cancer sahyog secretary p k ghosh, who was a patient of bone cancer, said: ‘‘our organisation not only supports patients by providing medicines but also counsels cancer patient to not give up on life.’’ ghosh said: ‘‘when we tell a patient, who may be finding it hard to cope with the tremendous side effects of chemotherapy, that a few years back, we did not have a single hair on our heads, they begin to listen to us.’’ all volunteers to the organisation are cancer survivors. having been patients themselves, cancer sahyog volunteers are able to empathise better. ‘‘the disease is a difficult one. all we try to tell the patients is to fight hard and not give up,’’ he said. ghosh’s job entails visiting patients who may be rich enough to pay for their treatment. ‘‘cancer as a disease is a great leveller. social standings fade away and a patient loses all sense of wealth. whether rich or poor, the patients go through the same hell,’’ he said. among the patients, cancer sahyog is supporting is sita kumari (4). ghosh said: ‘‘this girl was abandoned by her parents outside a temple in samastipur in bihar. she had been detected with cancer and the family had no money for her treatment.’’ the priest of the temple, ram narayan dass, decided to bring her to delhi for her treatment. he had no money but managed to land up at irch. ‘‘very clearly, this was an extraordinary case, as a complete stranger had brought the patient to the hospital,’’ said ghosh. cancer sahyog volunteers spotted the spirited little girl in the hospital and decided to sponsor her treatment. ‘‘sita kumari has been undergoing chemotherapy for the past four month and we have spent rs 20,000 for her,’’ said ghosh. cancer sahyog has no regular source of funds. ‘‘we depend on individual donations. sometimes banks and other ngos give us lumpsums,’’ he said. in the past there have been situations when coffers had been near empty and a patient required urgent, expensive medication. ‘‘in such times, our members come together to donate. as a routine we donate a small amount every year,’’ he said. </div> </div>