Bengaluru: Mudassar, father of four-year-old Mariam Kausar, told Deccan Chronicle that he had to take the baby from Hoskote to Malathi Manipal Hospital in the city on Friday afternoon after she suffered seizures. “She was choking and was finding it difficult to breathe. I decided to get a medical check-up done at Malathi Manipal hospital,” he said.
It has been a struggle for the family since December 16 when Mariam Kausar underwent a surgery for a fracture in her left hand at the government-run Sanjay Gandhi Institute of Trauma and Orthopaedics. The operation has left her in a coma for the past six months, from which she is yet to come out. The family shifted her to Malathi Manipal Hospital, a private healthcare setup, accusing the government doctors of negligence.
“We could not afford the treatment at the hospital and had to get her home. Mariam was a very active child and it hurts her mother to see her like this. Home care nurses charge Rs 30,000-40,000 and we cannot afford that,” Mudassar said.
“The state government only offered to pay the minimum medical bills,” he said. “The bills have crossed Rs 20 lakh and the government did not help us in any way. We want justice. They only offered us a few lakh rupees, which we declined as it was not enough,” he said, showing the bills. “I and my wife take care of Mariam and have been advised by the doctor to change her position every half-an-hour and feed her through the tube every two-and-a-half hours. She is also undergoing physiotherapy and gets six medicines every day,” he said.
The medical prognosis is bleak. “She is in a persistent vegetative state and is not conscious. She makes non-purposeful movements and would require a lot of care as such patients are more prone to infections,” said Dr Sudarshan Ballal MD, Medical Director & Chairman, Medical Advisory Board, Manipal Health Enterprises. He said that she will not be able to think for herself anymore. “We don’t know how long she will take to recover as her neurological condition is not likely to improve. Chances of recovery are very slim and if at all it happens it will be very slow. She will have physical growth, but her mental growth will be slow. Any older patient would not have reached such a state. Such people are more prone to infections and succumb to them. The longetivity aspect is still under question,” he said.
Her father has lost all hope. “Her future, which was earlier in the hands of doctors, is now in God’s hands and I have no hope any more,” he says in despair.
