The milk of human kindness continues to flow from the heart despite the global gloom over the COVID-19 pandemic. A doctor drove 540 km amidst the lockdown to reach a poverty-stricken family to their residence in a Birbhum district remote village.

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A daily labourer in a stone quarry, had come all the way to SSKM Hospital from the tribal dominated Shulunga village, about 270 km from Kolkata, along with his wife for the treatment of their eight-year old daughter last month. But they got stuck in the COVID-19 induced lockdown and were forced to spend two days in the hospital premises. Bablu Sardar, a resident anaesthesiologist of the hospital, came to know of the family's plight from another doctor.

In spite of repeated efforts, no ambulance or any other car was available for ferrying the labourers family . A couple of ambulance drivers demanded an astronomical amount, which was beyond the means of the poor family. It was then that the 44-year old doctor decided to drive them home in his 12-year old car, despite knowing only a part of the route and the daughter not being his patient. He skipped dinner, and started off at 9 p.m. on March 25, and reached Sulunga near the Jharkhand border in the wee hours of March 26. He dropped off the family, and then immediately began the long 270 km journey back. He was in time for the 10 a.m. at the hospital. "The total journey consumed 30 litres of petrol, for which I paid from my pocket," said a smiling Sardar.

The incident has gone viral on the social media. But Sardar looks unfazed. "I have done what one should do for another fellow being," he said. The labourer has no words to express his gratitude. "I will never forget in my life what he had done for our family without thinking about his own danger," he said.