The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : She lost three toes, will lose arm also

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Thursday, Jul 03, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

She lost three toes, will lose arm also

Yogaraj S. Mudalgi

Revathi is looking for sponsors to pursue her studies

Revathi living on hope.

Bangalore: Revathi, 13, could never have imagined that the simple task of retrieving dry clothes from the second-floor terrace of a house where she worked as a domestic help could leave her handicapped.

The girl came in contact with high tension power lines while on the terrace of her employer’s house in J.P. Nagar in April, and after months of medical complications and suffering, today finds herself without three toes. Soon she is to lose her left arm because it has atrophied beyond recovery. Incidentally, she is a left-hander.

Revathi’s nightmare began on the morning of April 21 when was sent upstairs by her employers to fetch dried clothes. She slipped and came in contact with low-lying high tension wires. Residents of the same building on the first floor saw the girl lying unconscious on the terrace and took her to Victoria Hospital. She was treated there for burns on her hands, feet, thighs and stomach and discharged a month later.

Her parents were unhappy with the treatment and took her to the Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences for examination. When the bandage was removed there, the doctors saw that the wound had turned septic and maggots had started feeding on the flesh.

She was later taken to St. John’s where she had been getting treatment since. While her toes have been removed, her left arm will be amputated because most of the muscles and tendons have been lost.

Revathi came to Bangalore from Andhra Pradesh in 2007 with her parents P.S. Naidu and Gauri and a sister to earn a living. Her father works in a private software firm as a duster. All the women in the house – mother and daughters – work as domestic help. When they approached the police, not much help was forthcoming as they blamed the parents for letting the teenager work, said Geeta Menon of Stree Jagruti Samiti. The case was then settled for Rs. 40,000, which was less than half the money spent on Revathi’s treatment. “The parents now have to bear further expenses for a prosthetic arm and other expenses,” said Ms. Menon. “It is unfortunate that they have to struggle so much for compensation when it is their right.”

Revathi, a vivacious young girl, is optimistic about her future. “I dropped out from standard 7 because my parents could not afford it.” She is looking for donors to sponsor her education.

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