Hospital waives bill, raises money to save child

KOLKATA: At a time healthcare and doctors are hitting the headlines for mostly the wrong reasons, here’s something that’s bound to restore faith in what is surely one of the noblest professions. A city hospital and its team of doctors have not only brought a child back from the brink of certain death, but have also waived a considerable part of his hospital bill. What’s more, they are also raising funds to gift the child a portable ventilator that he needs after he goes back home.The heartwarming tale has unfolded at the Institute of Child Health (ICH) in park Circus, a private trust-run hospital that specializes in paediatrics. Five-and-a-half-year-old Mohammad Zeeshan, who was suffering from scrub typhus, had been rushed there on October 31 last year in critical condition.The rare vector-borne disease, caused by the bite of an infected mite, can affect the brain, and proves fatal if not detected in time. Soon after Zeeshan was admitted, he slipped into a coma. The doctors knew they had little chance of saving him, but the boy’s parents refused to give up hope. “Once he went into coma, we gave up hope. But the parents pleaded with us to do whatever it took to save him,” said Prabhas Prasun Giri, the paediatric ICU in-charge. Despite knowing that it was a long battle for Zeeshan on ventilation — which meant running up a huge bill that his wage-earner father would not be able to pay — the doctors continued with the treatment. Though on minimal ventilation support now, the four months in ICU has spiralled up the cost to Rs 4 lakh.Zeeshan’s father Mohammad Mehmood Alam has been able to pool in only Rs 2 lakh so far. He doesn’t have to pay any more, the hospital has informed him. “I had full trust in the doctors that they will perform a miracle for my son,” said the grateful father.“I am also moved by the fact that the hospital has decided not to charge me any farther. I am indebted to them for pulling my son out from the jaws of death. The doctors have been our guardian angels,” he added.Alam, who hails from Bihar’s Supaaul district, had moved to Kolkata about 18 months ago to work in a leather factory in Topsia. With an earning of Rs 5,000 per month, it would not have been possible for the family to treat Zeeshan had the doctors and ICH not supported him.Doctors said Zeeshan has recovered 80% from the disease. The long ventilation has weakened his respiratory muscles. Till the muscles naturally regain power, the boy will need ventilation support on and off. This can be managed at home, with a portable ventilation machine that cost about Rs 3 lakh. “The boy does not need to be in ICU any longer. But the parents are not in a position to afford the portable ventilator. That is why we are trying to raise funds for the machine so that we can send him home,” Giti said.Given the amount of love and affection that he has been getting at the hospital, Zeeshan does not want to go back home. The boy starts throwing tantrums whenever the doctors tell him that they are sending him home. “Zeeshan used to be very shy and obedient. He has become very naughty due to the pampering showered on him by the doctors,” said Alam. “But I have no complaints, as they have helped him cheat death.”