12-year-old poor boy in coma

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT

SILCHAR, July 25: Twelve-year-old Ajay Rabidas is suffering from intra central hemorrhage and currently is in coma. He is currently admitted in Pediatrics department of the Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH). He was admitted on July 21. The boy is a student of class IV in Harijan M B School. He stays at Beranga part 1 under Silchar constituency and his legal guardian Chandan Rabidas, materl uncle. He belongs to a very poor family.

 His parents Motilal Rabidas and Dhanmoni Rabidas are daily wage earners. His condition is critical and needs to be referred to the Neurology Department of Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) immediately to save his life. Owing to fincial constraints, his family can hardly afford to provide him proper medical care. They have reached out to citizens in general to help them in their distress with all their mite possible so that the life of the child can be saved.

 It is a matter of grave concern that Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH) does not have a department of Neurology. The state government run medical college which began its journey in 1968 is the referral hospital in the southern part of Assam. Besides Barak Valley, patients from neighbouring states of Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur and Meghalaya also come to this hospital for treatment.

 The total populace of Barak Valley is around 40 lakh. Patients, most of whom are very poor, have to travel all the way to Guwahati and beyond to avail themselves of better health care at exorbitant rates. It is all the more in glaring contrast to the recent statement from New Delhi that Silchar is to be developed as a smart city. It is a dream that will take days to come true. Should Silchar Medical College and Hospital wait for that day to have a neurology department?