Daijiworld Media Network – Moobidri (SP)

Moodbidri, Dec 24: Ashwini from Kadandale near here has two children, a set of twins, both of whom are disabled. When the children were small, their mother, Ashwini, could carry them around, but as she is aging and the children are gaining in weight with each passing day, she says, she finds it hard to continue with this routine. Perhaps, the weight of the worries about her children’s future is exerting further strain on her mind and draining away her strength too. She says, she suffers from occasional bouts of back ache.

The children are now 16. Ashwini’s daughter, Akshita, has been unable to move about, as her limbs are devoid of any strength since birth. The girl is unable to speak. Ashwini has to care for her daughter, right from attending to ablutions, dressing up etc., right up to feeding and putting her to bed. After the government Wenlock Hospital, Mangalore recently certified that Akshita suffers from 60% disability, she has started receiving a monthly disability pension of Rs 400 per month.

MLA, K Abhayachandra Jain, had recently advised the gram panchayat secretary to come to the aid of the family. Further, district in-charge minister, Krishna J Palemar, had instructed the officials to ensure that the girl receives a higher pension. But these words have failed to transform into any positive action till now.

Ashwini’s son, Arun, is a little different from Akshita, and he too is weak, and has been suffering from different ailments from time to time. He can make some sounds with his mouth, which are incoherent. His legs lack strength. When he attended school, his mother used to physically carry him to the school and bring him back. However, after he started attending the high school, located a little distance away, his mother was forced to shell out Rs 900 per month towards rickshaw fare.

Ashwini says that Arun started suffering from acute pain in his abdomen region in June this year. He was treated for the same. However, after he was referred to a private hospital in Mangalore, she was told that the tube inserted by a private hospital in his body had caused side-affects, even affecting his brain, she laments.

Arun has passed SSLC. Ashwini had to spend about a lac of rupees for treating him. Even now, she has to spend about Rs 2,500 per month for him. She has failed to convince the doctors to give a written certificate about the ailment of her son and how much money might be needed to treat him, she confesses. She added that both of her children were earlier treated through Ayurveda system of treatment in Bangalore, Beltangady and Mangalore.

The lady says that her children were ineligible to apply for disability pension till they turned 16, as her in-laws have some agricultural lands. Because of some problems, she is unable to live with the in-laws. Her husband, Ashok Shetty, who is employed in Mumbai, has also suffered a lot, as he met with two accidents . Ashwini has been earning something through bidi rolling. She temporarily stays with her mother now. Her home is located just two hundred feet to the east of Mijar Pre University College.

Ashwini is hopeful that her problems will recede, and good-hearted people will come to her rescue and mitigate her sufferings. She nurses hope that the government or voluntary organizations will take up her cause to ensure that she also sees a ray of hope for her as well as her children, and she would be able to get some relief off her relentless ordeal.