A disease can happen to anyone, anywhere, and strike when you are least expecting it. When Rajesh and his wife were expecting their baby earlier this year, the thought of any kind of sickness was the farthest thing on their minds. The couple were instead preoccupied with how best to welcome their baby into the world.
In late May, their beautiful baby daughter arrived and Rajesh and his wife were overjoyed. But this happiness did not last. When doctors examined the infant, they found that she was born with a serious defect - Pulmonary Atresia.
Children with this condition have a weak pulmonary valve in their hearts, which does not allow for proper pumping of blood. The only solution, doctors have told Rajesh and his wife, is a surgery, which will involve placing a stent in the baby girl's heart to correct the defect permanently.
The process will cost Rs. 5 lakhs at Apollo Hospitals in Chennai, where Rajesh's baby has been hospitalized for the 23 days of her life.
Rajesh is a daily wage labourer, and his monthly income comes up to about Rs. 4,000, with which he has supported himself and his wife for years. His wife manages their household and has no income of her own. Their small emergency fund, painfully saved, disappeared within days of their baby's birth, in hospital expenses.