Anup Kumar (4), is admitted to the Encephalitis ward of the Baba Raghav Das Medical College in Gorakhpur for the last four months. His father - a tempo driver, first sold his wife’s jewellery and then took a loan of Rs 50,000 on a 10 per cent interest from a money lender for treatment. And now he is fighting a battle on two fronts – paying medical bills for his son as well as repaying the interest of the loan he has taken.
This is not an isolated case in point. There are a plethora pf cases wherein parents of afflicted children -left mentally retarded or physically disabled due to Encephalitis, are caught in the dragnet of private moneylenders. They have taken loans with the hope that their child would once again live a normal life after treatment, but there seems to be no end to their agony.
“My husband sold my jewellery for my son’s treatment. As the treatment seemed to be long he has taken a loan of Rs 50,000 from a money lender. Now, he is working for almost 14 hours a day to repay the loan as well as meet the medical bill,” Sangita, mother of Anup Kumar told ‘The Pioneer’.
Anup is in hospital for the last four months, He suffered Encephalitis attack and was taken to BRD College. He survived the attack but the virus damaged his brain. Doctors say he needs a long treatment.
Similarly, Birza Majhi, a labourer working in construction sites of Siwan in Bihar, has brought his seven-year-old son Amit for treatment. His son too suffered from Encephalitis eight months back. Amit survived the attack but is now mentally retarded.
“I am a labourer and earn Rs 180 on a daily basis. My income is not regular. I have taken a loan of Rs 50,000 from my kin and another Rs 50,000 from a money lender of Siwan village at 5 per cent interest. I want my son to be fit. I do not know what will happen,” he said.
His wife Kunti says: “Earlier we sold our a pair of cow. The money we got was not enough. So we were forced to take loan.”She says just eight months back her son was a normal child like any other boy in the village. The disease damaged Amit’s brain and left him retarded.
“As the medical bill is increasing with each passing day the villagers suggested us to abandon the child. They say Amit is a burden on us. How can we do that,” Majhi asked.
Principal, BRD Medical College Dr K.P. Kushwaha said that Encephalitis is more or less a rural phenomenon. The parents of the children are very poor. They have to travel from far off areas for rehabilitation programmes which furthers the financial pinch.
In-charge of Rehabilitation Centre at the BRD College, Anita Tripathi, dittoed Dr Kushwaha’s views. She said that children do not come for post-Encephalitis rehabilitation programmes. “Thus, they suffer more,” she said.