Chennai: Sri Lankan Tamil refugee Dushyanthan appears shattered now since being told by the specialists at the government-run Institute of Child Health (ICH), Egmore, that his son Vijith Kumar, barely 11, will remain paralysed down the waist for the rest of his life, due to urethral sticture.
The poor refugee family has been waging a desperate battle, running from one hospital to another seeking some medical magic to repair the terrible ruination caused to the kid’s urethra after he was run over by a government transport bus while trying to board it for school at Kandiyapuram near Vembakottai in Sivakasi, where their refugee camp is situated. The surgery done last week at the ICH has gone awry.
“My son was waiting in the bus stop to take the bus to the school on that fateful morning of 8, September, 2014. He was just nine and was in class six. Even as he was trying to get into the bus with his bundle of books, the driver took off the bus and Vijith fell under the wheel. There was no other help and the ambulance did not response quick, so my friend carried the boy on his scooter pillion for over 14 km to reach the government general hospital in Sivakasi. Soon afterwards, we shifted the boy to the Rajaji government general hospital in Madurai, and from there, moved to the ICH here in Egmore”, Dushyanthan told DC, fighting back tears.
“We have spent over two lakh rupees on the treatment and related expenses so far, mostly borrowed money. He passes urine only through a tube. Now the doctors here tell us that they cannot do anything to improve things with Vijith and we can take the boy away. I do not have the money even for the travel back to the refugee camp (Kandiyapuram, Sivakasi). We do not see any purpose in continuing life”, he said, adding that for the last couple of years, he was “literally carrying the boy from one medical institution to another, from one ward to another, from one doctor to another”.
The boy would need change of urine tube every three hours and a review-visit to the ICH once every six month as the urethra would get infected with germs, the father said. He was a cab driver and missed duty on most of the days to be with his son.
Though the Alangulam police station registered FIR, no further action appeared to have happened and the family’s attempts to claim compensation from the courts did not fructify. “We have borrowed heavily and it’s all gone”, Dushyanthan said, adding, “I do not know how I am going to manage my family, which includes three other kids”.
According to the state coordinator of the National Rural Health Mission, Dr Niku Srinivasan, who led the specialists’ team at the ICH to treat Vijith, the boy’s right side remained senseless and chances of any recovery appeared remote.
Philanthropists wanting to help the refugee family can reach them on 9715331792.
