On Wednesday, Sheikh Sherif animatedly talking to his immobile boy in the desperate hope of triggering some response, suddenly broke down, tears trickling down his tired face. He was trying to bring back to life his 26-year-old son Shadul, staring blankly back from his hospital bed in the strangeness of Kochi, far from their little village in Bengal.
It became Sherif's tears of joy when he saw the eyes of his semi comatose boy had also tears that rolled down the side of his eyes, the first flicker of response since a road accident in the city reduced him to that state about a month ago. He had not shown any “meaningful” response to any stimuli since that day, though at times it appeared as if he recognised his own name.
A skilled embroidery worker from West Bengal, Shadul, who was riding his bicycle, was hit by a motorcycle on July 17 at Panampilly Nagar.
The trauma care at the nearest private hospital had drained the poor family of over Rs.1 lakh. Mr. Sheikh, who arrived from Dakhinhawal village in Howrah district, had requested his son to be transferred to a government hospital after fellow migrant workers in Kochi pooled from their wages for the treatment cost.
The nearby District General Hospital that took in Sahdul, immediately referred him to the Kottayam Medical College hospital (KCMH). There was no neurosurgery department at the GH.
But five days later, he was sent back to GH for supportive care. Mr. Sherif told The Hindu that he had never asked for discharging the patient from the Medical College, though strangely, Shadul’s discharge summary form KCMH says that his father had asked him to be shifted there for supportive care.
Mr. Sherif says that he is new to the place and had no clue where to take his son. So he just followed the doctors’ instruction to take him back to GH. For him, both Ernakulam or Kottayam are equally strange places.
With no other facility to offer, the boy went into palliative care in the General Hospital. It was at this stage that Dr.G. Mohan, in-charge of palliative care, called in the social work research scholar Joyshree Mondal, working in the field of health access to the elderly and tribespeople, to translate what the distraught Sharief was trying to say.
Last Sunday (Aug. 14), Ms. Mondal had initiated shifting the patient for intensive neuro-rehabilitation, with help from a doctor in a private hospital.
“Treatment costs are a problem now, but he has to be given a chance to live again,” she said. Ms. Mondal works with a non-governmental organisation Managing and Generating Income for Community Services (MAGICS), which had reached out to the Maradu municipality seeking financial help for Shadul.
The response to help migrant workers in the State is rather poor, said Ms. Mondal, wondering why the State could not offer intensive neuro-rehabilitation to this poor patient.
Medical college’s stand
Dr. Balakrishnan, head of the neurosurgery, Kottayam Medical College, told The Hin du, that the standard procedure in the case of trauma victims who are expected to take time to recover, is to refer them to a local hospital where they can get supportive care. “Not all cases require the active presence of a neurosurgeon”, according to him.
A medical college hospital bed could not remain blocked for a long time when patients requiring intensive neuro-care are brought in, he added.
To a query whether the State indeed had a neuro-rehabilitation centre in public medicare, he said only Thiruvananthapuram Medical College had such a facility.
When Ms. Mondal took up Shadul’s case, the opinions of the neurosurgeons were that there was chance that he may recover, given proper rehabilitation care.
The boy is on nasal feeding presently but he even swallowed a few drops of water on Friday. But he needs to be stimulated for movement, speech and swallowing, said the treating neurosurgeon Arun Oommen.
Sheikh Sherif says he is new to the place and had no clue where to take his son and he just followed the doctors’ instruction
