Mohan Shrestha, 45, a resident of Itahari-8, had been admitted to BP Koirala Institute of Health Science (BPKIHS) of Dharan 22 days ago after getting electric shock. Struggling with life in hospital, Shrestha on Friday night succumbed to death as his family failed to manage money for treatment. [break]
North Point Higher Secondary School (NPHSS), the school where Mohan worked, provided only Rs 12,000.
After his death, Mohan´s family has been left in a lurch. His wife Ambika is herself a tuberculosis patient. The bereaved family has no money to perform his final rites. “We had to collect donations for his final rites,” Ganesh Khatri, a neighbor of Mohan, said.
“Who will look after us now?” Mohan´s daughter Sunita said. Mohan´s neighbors have been providing food for his children.
Mohan, who made a living by pulling rickshaw, was lured by NPHSS into pasting posters for two days. However, NPHSS washed its hands off after he fell down from a tall building and got an electric shock. “The reason Mohan fell down was he was drunk,” NPHSS principal Agni Prasad Sitaula. “We did what we could.”
However, Mohan´s neighbors have accused NPHSS of indifference toward the poor man´s plight. “Mohan could have survived had he received proper treatment,” Ramesh Shrestha, a neighbor, said.
Life of a rickshaw Puller