The accident near Kathipara Junction here on the fateful night of August 28 last year turned the lives of R. Murugesan and his family members upside down. The native of Kallal in Sivaganga district was riding his bike with his wife A. Padheswari on the pillion when a low-hanging internet cable, presumably invisible in the mid-night light, pulled them down.
“I survived with a neck injury as I was wearing a helmet but my wife hit her head against the ground. After all the treatment given to her for a year and four months, she is still bed-ridden and not able to recognise anyone,” recalls Mr. Murugesan residing at an informal settlement in Radhakrishnapuram off Greenways Road.
Ms. Padheswari was rushed to a nearby hospital and then shifted to a reputable private hospital on Greames Road the same night, where she was treated for 14 days. “They told us that her brain swelled and they operated on her skull to make space for the swelled brain. For those 14 days, the bill came up to ₹13 lakh and it was paid by the cable contractor,” says Murugesan.
However, the contractor said he could not pay anymore and took a signature from Mr. Murugesan that he was not associated with the accident. “Though some people urged us to file a police complaint against him, how can I do that when he spent over ₹13 lakh for my wife’s treatment?” he asks.
Ms. Padheswari was shifted to the Government Multi-Super-Speciality Hospital but that did not last for long, as he was worried about the treatment given there. “The nurses did not even clean the patient!” he rues.
Costly treatment
He shifted her again to another private hospital. “But since I was not able to pay, I moved her to a care home and I could not meet the expenses there too. I had no other option but to shift her home.” But even at home, medicine, electricity for the air-conditioner to avoid infection and amenities cost about ₹35,000 to ₹40,000 every month.
As he was told that a home nurse would cost him about ₹15,000 a month, their daughter M. Shalini, a Class 12 student n Lady Sivaswamy Ayyar Girls Higher Secondary School in Mylapore, was asked to leave school. Her 11-year old brother M. Sanjay goes to school.
“My teachers told me I can still write my Class XII board exams as a private candidate. But I have to take care of my mother,” says the girl. From feeding liquid food to her mother through a pipe and washing her clothes to cutting fruits for her juice, Ms. Shalini’s responsibilities keep her busy all through the day. The family, which already has outstanding debt up to ₹8 lakh, is staring at an uncertain future, even as it hopes to see Ms. Padheswari get back on her feet someday.
