By Matters India Reporter

Chemperi, April 2, 2020: A Catholic priest is making waves in Kerala with his ambulance service to help the poor during the nationwide lockdown to contain coronavirus pandemic.

“I decided to start the service since nobody was willing to take patients to hospitals out of fear,” Father Jomon Chempakasseril of the Kannur diocese told Matters India on April 2.

The priest, who turns 46 on April 6, now serves as the manager of the Latin rite diocese’s Puthukkad Estate in Chemperi, another village in Kannur district. Earlier, he was the parish priest of Our Lady of Dolours Church, Mattool South in Kannur district.

The priest started the ambulance service on March 26, a day after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-day lockdown throughout the country.

He said he has received permission for the ambulance service from the local village council and the district health department.

The native of Edoor, a small town near Iritty in Kannur, uses his family’s ambulance to help people, most of them descendants of settlers who had come to the hilly region from central Kerala in the 20th century

The priest is a member of the local Y’s Men Club and the chairperson of the Chemperi Ys Men Medical and Charitable Trust. He said the news about the availability of his ambulance service is ebbing disseminated through the club members and other local groups.

“I have taken 12 people to hospitals in Thaliparamba and Kannur,” the priest said. Since the government health department attends to coronavirus infected people the priest attends to other patients.

The news about the priest’s service was also published in Malayalam newspapers such as the Deepika (little lamp).

Father Chempakasseril’s superior, Bishop Alex Vadakkumthala of Kannur, hailed the priest’s service as the need of the hour. “It is a good and timely initiative. No one should suffer in this time of lockdown,” the bishop told Matters India.

Ordained as a priest on February 2, 2010, he serves as director of the diocese’s health commission. He is also the secretary of the Ecumenical Fellowship in Kannur and diocesan representative of the district unit of Peace Forum, an interreligious body.