After Union Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sushma Swaraj was hailed for her quick assistance to people, it is the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) that has come to the rescue of an ailing child. The Minister of State in PMO, Jitendra Singh has extended help to 14-year-old Rohit Kumar by providing Rs 2 lakhs for the purchase of a portable ventilator.
Kumar, who has been forced to stay at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for over a year can finally go home now.
He needed a portable ventilator and other related accessories after he underwent a spine surgery.
The Minister came to know about the matter and released Rs 2 lakh for the portable ventilator, oxygen concentrator and solar power inverter that Rohit needed for him to be able to go home.
When contacted, the Minister said he was moved after reading about Rohit’s condition in the media following which he decided to help him.
“It was really disturbing to know about Rohit’s condition. After reading about his condition, I immediately asked my staff to get in touch with the family to help him. No one should suffer for the lack of money like this,” he said.
Singh, who is also a doctor, said he used to treat poor and marginalised people for free while he was practising. “We must do a good job every day. That has been my mantra for past so many years. It is one such deed,” he said.
A letter confirming payment of Rs 2 lakh help from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund to Rohit has been issued by the PMO, the Minister said.
Rohit, a native of Siwan district in Bihar, sustained spinal cord damage after a fall. He underwent a spine surgery and should have been discharged by January last year.
“After the surgery, Rohit is paralysed neck down and needs a ventilator to breathe. He belongs to a very poor family who cannot afford to buy such a costly equipment, which costs around Rs 1 lakh and thus he is admitted in the neurosurgery-3 ward of the AIIMS for over a year,” said Dr Deepak Agarwal, Professor, Neurosurgery department at AIIMS.
The family has rented a room near Badarpur and keeps visiting Rohit. “We are yet to withdraw the money and then the process of buying the ventilator will be initiated,” Agarwal said.