The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Little boy desperately in need of a lifeline

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 02, 2006

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Little boy desperately in need of a lifeline

K. Srinivas Reddy

Lokesh suffers from rare congenital problem

HYDERABAD: Lokesh bounces into the single-room tenement like any other kid, pestering his mother to give him something to eat and then sprints out. Like any other kid, he would not heed to his mother's commands to be careful and not get hurt running across the lane to meet his playmates.

Monthly routine

But this `freedom' is only for a fortnight in a month. As days pass by, he becomes quiet and withdraws into a corner to lie down. He is aware that he has to conserve all the energy till he gets his monthly blood transfusion.

In all his four years of life, if there is anything this puny kid had perhaps learnt quite well is the harsh reality that the monthly puncture on his wrist would only energise him to play for the next two weeks. Lokesh suffers from a rare congenital problem where his body cannot generate enough blood and hence has to be replenished every month externally.

But, this is now turning out to be an insurmountable problem for his poor parents, Surekha and Ravi, eking out their living by doing odd jobs.

"The monthly transfusion costs about Rs. 1,500 a month," they say. Surekha buys one unit of `O' positive blood and takes her son to Niloufer hospital every month.

She even has to buy the needle. "I don't know how long I can continue to spend money like this," she sighs.

With their incomes dwindling each month, the couple are at a loss on paying for the transfusions. The fluctuating price of blood is yet another problem as blood banks charge between Rs 750 and Rs 1,500 for a unit. "My son does not even require a complete unit but we are forced to buy it. At the Niloufer Hospital, they asked us to buy the transfusion which costs Rs 40," they point out appealing to philanthropists. The couple lives in Kutbiguda (H. No. 4-5-679).

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Andhra Pradesh