Hams Track Down Medicine in Short Supply for Critically Ill Child

Working under a critically short deadline and across the borders of several nations, hams in India were able to locate a medicine that is vital to a 7-year-old girl in neighbouring Bangladesh who was hospitalised for a neurological disorder. The medicine was in her doctor's hands within 48 hours of being found.

The girl's parents had been told by doctors at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital that they were in short supply of the anti-viral drug that was successfully treating their daughter and that no stock of the drug could be found elsewhere in the country at present.

The girl's father told The Times of India that he promptly launched a search by contacting Rahat Khan, S21DI, an amateur radio operator in Bangladesh. Rahat put out a call to his network of ham contacts in neighbouring countries, all to no avail. In India, hams in the West Bengal Radio Club found an alternative of the brand in the state of Kerala but it was not clear whether the girl would respond to that drug. The necessary brand was at last located in New Delhi by one of the newest members of the club, Naendraath Jana, a student in the Indian Academy of Communication and Disaster Management. According to the club's secretary, Ambarish Nag Biswas, VU2JFA, the hams then tracked down someone at the New Delhi airport who was preparing to return home to Bangladesh - and who agreed to transport the medicine. The girl's father met the passenger at the airport in Dhaka. The girl received the treatment on Friday, 24th November 2023.