SHASHWAT GUPTA RAY & SIDRA KHAN
For Go pal Laxman Savardekar, the past two weeks have been a nightmare that no parent should ever endure — watching his 11-year-old son walk into a government health centre with an in jured foot and return home without a leg. The Valpoi resident is now left grappling not only with grief and anger, but also with the terrifying uncertainty of what lies ahead for a child whose life, he says, was permanently altered by medical negli gence.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
Even as Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Wednes day announced financial assistance of Rs 25 lakh from his personal trust for the family, Savardekar said nobody had officially in formed them about the aid. “We don’t know about this Rs 25 lakh financial assistance announced by our Health Minister as no one has officially contacted us yet,” Savardekar told O Heraldo, his voice weighed down by exhaustion.
Savardekar was also in a state of disbelief after days spent shuttling between hospitals and confronting the trauma of his son’s amputation. But for the father, the issue goes far beyond compensa tion. “My son lost his foot due to someone else’s negligence. Even this amount will be inadequate to support him life long,” he said, appealing directly to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant for long-term intervention. “We request the government to arrange for a prosthetic leg, support his education and give him a job once he turns 18.
I request the Chief Minister to help us,” he said. Recalling the sequence of events that changed the boy’s life forever, Savardekar said his son had fallen off a bicycle on April 27 and injured his foot. “His foot had swollen and was bleeding. We brought him to the Community Health Centre, Valpoi. But Dr Yavanti Gawade did not check him,” he alleged. According to the father, the boy was first sent for an X-ray and later diagnosed with a fracture. However, he claimed that instead of treating the open wound, a plas ter cast was applied over it before the child was sent home. The next day, the boy’s condition deteriorated rapidly.
