Humanity is what binds us together as the citizens of a globalized world and here is something that reinforces our trust in humanity. In what looks like a truly heart-rending tale, a woman from Philippines called Grace Alexandria, aged 40 had developed labour pains when she was on board a flight from Dubai to Manila when it entered the Indian airspace in the last week of April 2016.

Ms. Grace delivered a baby girl while she was still on the plane. The woman who was pregnant was en route Manila where her parents lived, so that she can deliver the baby. Considering this as an emergency, the Emirates flight landed at Shamshabad, where the doctors of Apollo Clinic examined both the mother and baby. Since the baby was very frail, both mother and the baby were admitted to the Apollo Hospitals in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad.

After much effort, unfortunately the baby girl had breathed her last. This only compounded the woes of Ms. Grace, a nurse based in Dubai. Due to immigration restrictions, she couldn’t carry the body to her home country whereas the only option left of burying her in Hyderabad was met with opposition from the Church here, as she was not registered with the local church.

With this news coming out, some help started coming and the Tourism Department of Telangana responded. The Secretary-Tourism B. Venkatesam visited Apollo hospital on Monday morning and he quickly offered help to the Filipino woman. He assured that the state government of Telangana government would take care of the hospital bill, following a discount on humanitarian grounds. Mr. Venkatesam also assured her of travel arrangements to Manila late on Tuesday evening.

The Tourism Department has sorted out the issue regarding the last rites of the baby girl, who has been laid to rest at the Trimulgherry cemetery. Necessary orders were passed on to the concerned police as well, according to Mr. Venkatesam who expressed that it is our bounden duty to take care of guests regardless of whether the visitor is on a scheduled trip or an unscheduled one. He added that it becomes all the more important when they are in distress.

This is how the tragic story of a baby born to a 40-year-old Philippine woman ended. The lady underwent immense trauma as her newborn child died just within days of her birth in Hyderabad. Courtesy the efforts of Mr. Venkatesam on behalf of the Government of Telangana, finally there was some solace to our foreign guest who arrived in Hyderabad unexpectedly.