Free rides to hospital

Go to the CNG-run autorickshaw stand in Gazipur's Board Bazar area, you can't miss a three-wheeler with stickers on its front, back, sides and roof, reading "free for the poor, helpless and the physically-challenged".  

It belongs to Mohammad Forkan Mia, whose return from death's door nine years ago has changed the moto of his life.  

Blessed with a second chance to live, the 40-year-old autorickshaw driver has devoted his life to serving poor patients and road-accident victims by taking them to different hospitals from their homes and accident sites, respectively, free of cost.

"Since my brush with death, I feel like I have been awarded with a bonus life. Thus, I want to dedicate myself to the welfare of people," said Forkan, who lives in the Fakir Market area of Board Bazar in Gazipur with his wife and two sons.

Forkan used to own a car and earned his living carrying passengers on long trips. But an accident changed everything.

A few days after Eid-ul-Azha in 2011, while on a trip to Mymensingh, he suffered serious injuries on his head and other parts of his body in a road accident near Hotapara area of Gazipur.

Locals rushed him to the then Gazipur Sadar Hospital, where doctors declared him dead. Later, his relatives took him to four different private hospitals in Dhaka, all in "vain".

Later, he learned from his relatives that when they brought him home and was preparing for his burial, he suddenly regained consciousness. "They took me back to a hospital and I slowly recovered," Forkan reminisced. 

This motivated him to hire a CNG-run autorickshaw on November 21, 2011 and use it to carry poor and helpless patients to hospitals "free of cost".

"Allah said, 'Love my creations to find me'. Human being is the best of His creations. When they fall sick, I take them to hospitals free of cost," Forkan explained, adding that he mainly helps those patients who cannot afford to pay the fare. 

Six years ago, he borrowed six lakh taka from his cousin and bought a CNG-run autorickshaw.

He also installed special signal lights and siren, like that of an ambulance, in the vehicle to help clear the road when carrying a critical patient or an accident victim.

"Often, traffic police stop me and question me about using such special signal light and siren. When I tell them about my mission, they let me go," he said.

Since 2018, Forkan has been maintaining a register of patients whom he provides free transportation to. According to the register, he has served 89 poor patients and accident victims.

Forkan also purchased medicine for 27 out of the 89 passengers with money he collected from a donation box, kept inside his vehicle to help the needy.

Zakir Hossain, a physically-challenged person, who lives at Kunia Borobari in Gazipur, told The Daily Star, "I have travelled to CRP [Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed] in Savar and Pangu [The National Institute of Traumatology & Orthopedic Rehabilitation] in Dhaka multiple times in the last four years in Forkan's auto rickshaw, but he never took any money from me."

Road accident survivor Munni Akhter, a resident of Kunia Chowdhury Market area, said, "I have been suffering from physical ailment since I had a road accident around three years ago. From then on, I travelled in Forkan's CNG-run auto rickshaw multiple times free of cost."

Forkan also rushes to accident sites with his vehicle if he hears of any accident in Gazipur to help carry the victims to a hospital. He pays for the fuel out of his own pocket with money he earns from regular trips.

"I like doing this work," he said, adding that he only faces problem while returning from Dhaka after dropping a patient in a hospital there. His vehicle having Gazipur's registration is not allowed to run in the capital.

"When there is a patient inside, I don't face any problem. But once I drop the patient in the hospital, and return to Gazipur with a vacant autorickshaw, the administrative problem occurs," he explained.

"I earnestly request the administration to cooperate with me in this issue," the good Samaritan beseeched.