But the likes of Ramdulari are ignorant about the seriousness of the disease. She only knows that he son had started coughing when he was two years old, which worsened over a period of time. The cough would be particularly bad at night, and often make him breathless. The parents would take him to a government hospital for treatment, but the medicines did not improve his condition. The doctors would ask them to buy medicines from outside, which they could not afford. He was eventually diagnosed with TB in the summer of 2011 on the basis of an X Ray. The doctor prescribed medicines most of which were to be bought from the private market. As they could not afford that, treatment was discontinued. After sometime, he was very sick again, so he was admitted in the hospital for 10 days. Another X-Ray was taken, and he was also given the BCG vaccine for a third time. Only when the doctors were repeatedly told that they were too poor to buy medicines, did they prescribe free medicines from the DOTS centre. [Read More]

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Source: Weekly Blitz :: Writings