The 57-year-old had got Rs 115,000 in gratuity after 18 years of service and had gone to Bahundangi to settle in the vicinity of his in-laws. [break]
He was trying to buy a small piece of land with some additional thousands on his gratuity sum but his dream was shattered when he was critically injured in a tusker attack on August 13, 2011.
His survived the attack, but has since been bed-ridden at the BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS), Dharan with serous injuries. The elephant trampled his left thigh, waist and chest and he has run a debt of around Rs 300,000 after exhausting his life-long savings in treatment.
"All his earnings have been spent in treatment and now we are left with nothing," his eldest son Rajesh said. "We have already spent over Rs 400,000 in his treatment, for which we had to borrow money and now we have nowhere to go for more funds required for further treatment," Rajesh added. Doctors involved in his treatment say Ram Bahadur, who has had three major operations after the incident, needs to undergo another surgery within this week, but the family doesn´t know how to manage the money for the operation.
Ram Bahadur has recuperated after the attack but cannot walk on his own yet. The family, which also has to look after Ram Bahadur´s sick wife, is reeling after the breadwinner has been rendered incapable after the attack. "My study has been hit while I can´t even go to work after my father was injured," said Rajesh, who is in the 10th grade.
The locals, who tried to raise fund for Ram Bahadur´s treatment, managed to put together just around Rs 6,000. Jhapa District Administration had given Rs 50,000, local Telpani Community Forest Rs 45,000, Bahundangi VDC Rs 25,000, but the money has not been sufficient for treatment.
"A single operation costs around Rs 50,000 and he has been hospitalized for six months," Rajesh revealed. "The government could have at least waived the cost of treatment."
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