Orphan boy lives with boil-turned ulcer for 11 years

DHENKANAL: An orphan boy bore the brunt of an abscess for 11 years of his 16-year-old life before the benign boil burgeoned into a malignant ulcer to attract the attention of authorities.
Pradeep Naik, alias Dipak, of Govindaprasad village in Odapada block, struggling for survival in Dhenkanal district headquarter hospital, was brought to the hospital for treatment by District Child Welfare Committee (a quasi-judiciary statutory body) on Wednesday.The committee learned of his condition from some social activists after a helpless Dipak pleaded to the village authorities for help at a public meeting.
Prior to this no one paid any heed to Dipak's plight even though the puss from the untreated boil in his neck spread up to his chest in an gory display of red and pink debris screaming for attention. "Whenever I felt severe pain, I bought painkillers from a neighbouring shop and consumed them to get momentary relief," said Dipak, who lost his father when he was barely three years old and his mother some three years ago.
Eking out a meager living by grazing goats of villagers, which brought him a paltry Rs 20 a day, proper health care never seemed an option for this unlettered lad. "I have spent many days on a single meal per day. Health care and treatment of the disease has been a remote dream for me," Dipak said. "I got no chance to go for formal education in school. Villagers and owners of the goats provided me with some rice, with which I used to prepare my daily meal," he added haltingly.
Dipak is being attended to at the district headquarter hospital by chief district medical officer B C Behera, along with a team of five doctors. "As the ulcer has taken a severe shape, there is need for plastic surgery. We will send him to SCB medical college and hospital after discussion with district magistrate and collector. The treatment requires a lot of expenditure, which will be met from the district Red Cross fund and the chief minister's relief fund," Behera said.
Dipak, however, lies around looking dazed, clumsily trying to cover the ugly ulcer with a towel. "None in my village ever thought of curing my disease in the past. If health administration now cures my disease it will be a rebirth for me," he mumbled.