BPL family cave in under medical expense

Doctors in NEIGRIHMS are not sure whether the boy who has spent three years in the intensive care unit of their hospital will fully recover, though Pynlongjanai is said to be improving. The three years the boy spent in the hospital has drained his family financially as they had to sell off their land in Pynlongjanai to get him treated in a city based private hospital that cost a whopping three lakhs in just three weeks, that too without any sign of improvement.

That is when Pynlongjanai Marbaniang parents decided to admit their son to NEIGRIHMS. His mother Shleikurin Marbañiang looks visible drained, but puts up a smile as her son seems to have showed some sign of improvement.

Even though her fifteen years old daughter had to give up her studies for facilitating her brother’s treatment, their mother says with hope,   “Now, Pynlongjanai can walk on crutches and we take him out on the wheelchair regularly, it is a good sight to see.”

However, the family is just keeping their finger crossed as the doctors who are treating them don’t know when their patient will recover fully as he is in ventilator which cannot be removed yet. Pynlongjanai, requires constant attention because he is on prolonged ventilator and tracheotomy

Doctors say that there are some lucky patients suffering from encephalitis who make a quick recovery if their sickness is promptly diagnosed and treatment. However Pynlongjanai Marbañiang doesn’t seems to fall under the “lucky category” as his family is still waiting for the day he will recover fully.

NEIGRIHMS case summary report says that Pynlongjanai was admitted previously with history of ‘fever, headache, and seizure with irrelevant talk,’ and diagnosed with meningoencephalitis but was discharged against medical advice (DAMA) on August 17, 2009 and then again re-admitted with respiratory failure for ventilator support on September 5, 2009.

Even if most of the things at NEIGRIHMS are free including food for in-patients medicines for Pynlongjanai still needs to be purchased from outside that cost about Rs 10,000 a month. Add the additional cost of Rs 3000 for the attendant(s) who has to look after Pynlongjanai, the treatment is still beyond the reach of the BPL family.

Pynlongjanai parents is happy for the medical services this government hospital provides to their son, but nonetheless if a BPL family has to spend around Rs. 10, 000 every month for medicines, which actually is the basic requirement for treatment, the purpose of being of service to the poor is defeated.

Justifying NEIGRIHMS inability to provide free medicines to Pynlongjanai, Dr. Himesh Barman said,’  ‘Sometimes we do not have any stock of the medicine that is required because the patient requirement is rare or the medicine required is not in stock.”

Sounds strange for a hospital that is under the union health ministry?  How come hospital of NEIGRIHMS repute doesn’t have medicines stock that is required for the patients and a small pharmacy in the city are selling the same medicines at an exorbitant price. There is certainly a link that is missing which needs to be explained. But who will do the explaining as the poor cannot demand such an explanation for the high and the mighty.