Bed-ridden face dire crisis for lack of care

Chennai: For nearly a decade, A Ezhilarasi, 32, who is immobilized due to spinal injury has been working from home. But for the last one month, things became worse when her attendants and caregivers stopped visiting her due to fear of Covid. Ezhilarasi of Ramapuram has painful bedsores that have been profusely bleeding.

“I can’t get an appointment with doctors for this because this is not an emergency. Nurses too aren’t making home visits,” she said, who is a former administrative employee of a private school. Ezhil says at least 20 members of the Spinal Injured Persons Association, of which she is a member, have died due to various medical ailments between January and April. “We can’t help ourselves and there is no access to care,” she said. An independent audit by members of SIPA has found that at least 240 members are suffering with bed sores and about 49 have deep bedsores with grade 3 or 4 severity across the state. D Gnanbharathi, president of SIPA has requested the commissioner for department of welfare of Differently abled persons, Jhony Tom Varghese to arrange for help for disabled people.