POVERTY THREATENS SOMBARI OF HER THIRD CHILD
NUAPADA: Penury and poverty had snatched Sambari and her husband Nabin Patel of their two child and they had pinned their hope on the only surviving child now suffering from problem with his excretory system. While the first child of the couple had died one month after birth of some unknown disease, the second offspring died barely five days after birth. And now the third child, a son, lovingly named as Gyanadas by his parents is struggling for survival as the couple are making a valiant attempt to keep him alive to ensure that the legacy lives on.
A marginal farmer of village Birunpadar in Konabera Gram Panchayat of Komna Block of this backward district under KBK region, Nabin depends on rain for cultivation. Already grieving at the loss of their two earlier children, they had little to rejoice when Gyandas was born as two days after his birth they found his stomach bloated and no discharge of excreta. And with it began their numerous trips to hospitals from the CHC at the Block Headquarters to District Headquarter Hospital at Nuapada to a private hospital in Raipur in Chattisgarh since the place is located 125 kms from Nuapada.
At Raipur, the doctors diagnosed the problem of Gyandas and performed an operation three months after his birth which cost the couple Rs. 25,000. But their ordeal did not end there as the doctors advised for one more surgery to set things right completely which would cost the couple another Rs. 50,000. With no more money to carry on with the treatment, both Sambari and Nabin are back at their village leaving the fate of their child unto God.
Although Komna Block Chairman Bhaktaram Sabar and Block Development Officer Biswaranjan Nayak visited the village, they only assured them of aid about which they are not sure. And while the couple await help, the child wreathes in pain every time he excretes into an attachment fitted to his stomach.