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INDIA,
Uttarkashi, April 4th, 2013
Child Patient
Follow-Up from Uttarkashi Clinic
Prakash is a 12-year
old boy who comes from a Nepalese family
but has been living in Uttarkashi, India,
for some time. He was brought by his father
in order to seek medical attention for his
recurrent fever. Prakash's father works
as a labourer and has spent his meager savings
on the boy's treatment.
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| Ganga Prem
Hospice nurse Sicily Sebastion
with Prakash and his father in
Rishikesh |
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At
the Ganga Prem Hospice charitable cancer
screening camp in Uttarkashi on March
8th and 9th, 2013, Prakash and his father
came to oncologist Dr Ashish Goel for
medical advice. The boy had enlarged
lymph nodes and ruling out cancer was
important. The Rotary Club of Uttarkashi
offered to fund the boy's treatment
for up to Rs. 5,000 and Ganga Prem Hospice
offered to sponsor the accommodation
and food of the patient if he came to
Rishikesh. |
Some days later Prakash
and his father were taken to the cancer
centre in Dehradun by the Ganga Prem Hospice
nurse, where an FNAC test was done. Since
the test was not fully conclusive in ruling
out cancer, Ganga Prem Hospice medical director
Dr AK Dewan offered to have the patient
seen by oncologists at the Rajiv Gandhi
Cancer Institute in Delhi. The doctors saw
that Prakash's dental health was in a very
poor condition and that he needed dental
treatment immediately, after which a biopsy
may be done if it is still needed. Back
in Rishikesh, the patient was taken by the
Ganga Prem Hospice manager to the Seema
Dental College & Hospital, where preliminary
investigation showed that the boy's teeth
were decaying. Blood tests were done to
detect any other abnormality. Prakash's
treatment is expected to continue in Rishikesh,
and he is currently on a semi-soild diet.
Update
on Prakash Joshi (April 12th, 2013)
Prakash has returned
to Uttarkashi with his father after having
two teeth extracted and scaling done on
his teeth. The fact that his new teeth had
grown over his milk teeth causing serious
infection, and the fact that there has been
no oral hygiene whatsoever in the past,
may be the cause of his recurring fevers
and swollen lymph nodes. The need for a
biopsy has still not been completely ruled
out.
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INDIA,
Uttarkashi, March 11th, 2013
Debt and
Colon Cancer Mar the Life of Leela Devi
Leela Devi is a slightly-built
Garhwali woman who comes from a remote high-altitude
village, Pilang, situated some miles off
from the main road to Gangotri, in Uttarakhand.
The 38-year old has three boys, two of whom
are in their teens and one who is younger.
Coming from a poverty-stricken
family, Leela Devi's husband has a small
farm on which only amaranth grows. Even
that meagre source of income is now depleted
as Leela is stricken with colon cancer.
| Whatever
little income and savings the family
had have all been consumed by the colon
cancer surgery and treatment. Financial
aid from the state government, which
the patient received for her treatment,
was barely enough to cover her surgery
cost at the only cancer hospital of
Uttarakhand in Dehradun. Leela Devi
and her husband Bachan Singh had to
borrow fifty thousand rupees from creditors
to afford the rest of her treatment.
That debt still looms heavily in their
lives. |
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| Colon cancer
patient Leela Devi and her husband,
Bachan Singh |
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Leela Devi was slated
for further follow up treatment in March,
but the couple does not have enough money
to even afford a trip to the Dehradun hospital,
let alone be able to pay the treatment expense.
The Uttarkashi Rotary
Club and some other people have been helping
the children to stay in school and have
been supporting the family in other small
ways, but cancer treatment still remains
elusive for Leela Devi. The patient feels
too weak to be able to do household work,
so Bachan Singh stays at home and manages
the daily chores. Leela sometimes has to
run to the toilet and on other occasions
her colon makes strange noises.
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| The couple
visited the busy Uttarkashi camp
in March |
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The little-educated couple was hard-pressed
to explain their problems when they
came to the Ganga Prem Hospice cancer
screening camp in Uttarkashi on the
8th of March, 2013. They had walked
several kilometres to reach the road
to the Uttarkashi town, and would
have had to travel back in the same
manner.
They were given medicines and nutritional
supplements at the camp.
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Sadly, little else
could be done immediately for Leela Devi,
as the cost of her follow-up treatment is
high and casts a serious question mark on
her survival.
Update
on Leela Devi (March 26th, 2013)
On the 26th of March,
news was conveyed to the Uttarkashi Rotary
Club via an emissary from the village of
Pilang that Leela Devi was in acute pain.
Her appointment date at the cancer hospital
near Dehradun has been overdue by a month.
Leela Devi desperately needs money to make
her trip from Uttarkashi to Dehradun and
at least start with some part of her treatment.
Rs. 10,000 have now
been received and will be put towards the
cost of her travel from Uttarkashi to Delhi
and her stay there, including food.
Leela Devi of Pilang,
Uttarkashi, died on April 22nd, 2013 at
1 am.
Even while arrangements
were being made for Leela Devi's free treatment
in Delhi, back in her remote village she
left her body at 1 am on April 22nd.
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