Couple save abandoned woman from roadside deathbed

TNN | Updated: Oct 26, 2017, 00:11 IST

Chennai: A 70-year old destitute woman lying unconscious on the pavement at Anna Salai was rescued by a couple on Wednesday. They handed over the woman to the state-funded 108 emergency service. The lady, whose identity remains unknown, was rushed to the Rajiv Gandhi General Hospital and is being treated. Locals said she had been lying unattended on the pavement for more than three days.

Deva Prabhu and his wife D Vinita spotted the woman who had taken refuge at the entrance of a locked building near the Head Post Office on Anna Salai. The woman was suffering from giddiness, according to the report filed by emergency medical technician G Bhagyalakshmi.

Vinita said, "Shopkeepers near the post office told us that the lady was once in good health and had been working as a domestic help." Vinita and Prabhu had approached the lady on Tuesday afternoon and offered her Rs 50. "When we came back on Tuesday night, locals told us that some rag pickers took the money away from her. So we gave her some food but she could barely hear us. As suggested by a local tea-seller who knows the lady, we gave her a cup of tea. She drank it up but still refused food," she said.

The woman had been lying in the sun for days and was motionless when the ambulance arrived on Wednesday morning.

Prabhu, who runs a computer shop on Ritchie Street, said, "It is a shame that nobody bothered to help the lady for days. When I called up some private shelters, they demanded money to take her in." Prabhu finally called 108 service on Wednesday morning which deployed an ambulance immediately.

The lady is stable and will spend the night at the general hospital and may be moved to a government shelter soon, according to a hospital staff member. G Bhagyalakshmi said, "The lady will stay at the hospital until she recovers completely."

Prabhu and Vinita said they plan to visit the lady at the hospital on Thursday. Vinita said, "We plan to get her clothes to wear. She was in tattered, old clothes when the ambulance took her away."