Assam: 57-yr-old woman living alone, bed-ridden and ailing, rescued in Tinsukia

Tinsukia: A 57-year-old woman alone in her house in Assam‘s Tinsukia town was rescued by the police on Tuesday. The woman was immediately shifted to Assam Medical College and Hospital (AMCH) in Dibrugarh after she was found to be bed-ridden and in poor health.

The development came on the backdrop of a steep surge in distress calls to the police across India by residents seeking help for COVID-19 hit relatives and fellow citizens, who are forced to live in miserable conditions, with hardly any help reaching them.

Sabini Mallik Chaudhury, a divorcee, was provided with food and other help by distant relatives living in Tinsukia and sometimes by neighbours until a few months ago, Bhaskar Jyoti Phukan, town in-charge of Tinsukia police, told EastMojo.

Based on a distress call by Kolkata-based relatives of the woman to the Assam Police helpline number, a police team swung into action and rushed to her residence at Ramkrishna Nagar locality, said Phukan. “We found her bed-ridden and suffering from illness,” he added.

Also read: Assam: ‘No helmet, no petrol’ in Tinsukia district

“The police arranged an ambulance, a person as an attendant, and shifted her to AMCH for treatment and care,” Phukan said, adding: “It seems that for the past few months her distant relatives in Tinsukia had stopped looking after her.”

Amid the second wave of the novel coronavirus, Assam Police has been performing the dual role of caregiver and COVID-19 norm enforcer.

On June 2, Dibrugarh police rescued a homeless man after a concerned resident tweeted his plight drawing the attention of the government to help him.