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Mountaineer gets help at last

Staff Reporter

NCP’s offer spurs State government into action

BHUBANESWAR: Even before an ailing Kalpana Das, the first person from the State to scale Mount Everest, could recover to “celebrate” her unique feat, politics seems to have taken centre stage.

The mountaineer on Thursday was “summoned” to the Secretariat and then “referred” to city-based Kalinga Hospital to see specialists as she had been complaining of chest pain and dry cough.

The BJD-BJP government, which had so far been maintaining a studied silence over her health, reacted just a day after the Nationalist Congress Party announced that it would make arrangements for her treatment at the all-India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi.

In the last couple of days most of the newspapers and television channels had been flashing the pallid face of the mountaineer, but that had evoked little response from any quarter.

Even a State-level felicitation eluded Kalpana on grounds of health.

“I gulp down 15 tablets a day. Doctors say I have blood clots in my brain. Even there is some problem in my lungs.

If it is not treated there are chances of paralytic attack,” Ms. Das had told mediapersons here.

The mountaineer said Chief Secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy told her to get herself admitted in Kalinga Hospital.

Political observers said this response from the government could be attributed to the NCP’s overtures to Ms. Das.

A group of senior NCP leaders had visited the mountaineer’s house at Dhenkanal and found her seriously ill. The party said it would try for a permanent job for her.

Uphill struggle

Ms. Das had scaled the Everest on May 21 and since then she had been suffering from multiple ailments, including fluid accumulation in lungs and muscular strain. Moreover, she had to be kept in ICU in a hospital in Kathmandu soon after scaling the Everest.

In a State where mountaineering is a word that sounds strange to many, Ms Das had set out to conquer the peak after literally begging funds from the government and corporate houses.

The 38-year-old mountaineer had to skip her South Africa expedition scheduled for next month as she was advised complete rest for three months by the specialists of SCB Medical College, Cuttack.

By Thursday evening, the government made a surprise announcement that it would give Rs. 5 lakh to Ms. Das for her feat.

The reward money would be presented at a ceremony at a later date.

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