The story of helplessness and courage of a 10 year old child in Etah district of Uttar Pradesh has become a topic of discussion on social media. After losing his mother, he single-handedly took care of her body in the district hospital. The child was suffering from serious diseases like TB and HIV. He died during treatment on Wednesday night. The surprising and sad thing is that when the woman died, there was no relative or neighbor with the child. The child waited for hours for someone to come near his mother’s body, but the society turned its back on him.
When the police came to know about this incident, the officials immediately reached the hospital. With tears in his eyes, the child told that his father had also died of AIDS last year. After his father’s death, relatives stopped talking to him and he never returned home.
The child cried, “Father, after her death I could not go to school. I was the one taking care of my mother. Relatives abandoned us.” Even my uncle does not know about my mother’s death. The child told that he got him treated at Lohia Hospital in Kanpur and Farrukhabad, but his life could not be saved.
The child took his mother’s body to the mortuary alone
According to eyewitnesses present at the hospital, when no one came to the spot after his mother’s death, the child single-handedly took her body to the mortuary on a stretcher with the help of a hospital staff. He stood alone during the postmortem formalities. Several hours later, when the news spread, some distant relatives came. The child left his mother when his uncle, who lives in Kasganj, about 60 km away, arrived.
Administrative investigation started
The 52-year-old woman was undergoing treatment at Avanti Bai Medical College in Virang, Etah. According to health department officials, she was treated for TB in 2017 and had recovered and returned home. The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) said that they are investigating whether this time the woman was given all government facilities and help for HIV treatment.