Daily Times

A poor landless peasant from Sanghar district requested authorities of provincial and federal governments to help him with the treatment of his 4 year old son suffering with retinoblastoma, a rare form of eye cancer.

Talking to Daily Times, Narsingo Kolhi, who belongs to Kolhi community of Hindus in Sindh, said that his four years old son Balam Kolhi had fallen ill around a year ago and within a few days, his left eye started swelling. His eyeball popped out of its socket and started growing.

Resident of a small village near district Sanghar, Kolhi took his child to a government hospital in Khipro. Doctors at the hospital referred him to Sanghar district hospital, but when he reached there, they referred him to Mirpurkhas from where he was sent to Karachi.

“I had no money at all as I work as a peasant on the agricultural lands of a local landlord. So, I sold my only cow which was the sole source of income for my entire family to meet the expenditures.

During these treatments, I spent over Rs.150,000 but even then, doctors did not operate on my child in Karachi. My child is continually lingering in pain,” Kolhi told Daily Times.

Doctors at a hospital in Karachi diagnosed that the child is suffering with Retinoblastoma (Rb), a rare form of cancer that rapidly develops from the immature cells of a retina, the light-detecting tissue of the eye. Doctors suggested the poor father that if this whole mass is not removed, it could extend to the brain.

“I am poor and also not educated and I have no idea where to take my child, therefore, I request Chief Minister Sindh, health authorities and the federal government to help me in the treatment of my son,” said Kolhi, father of four.

Published in Daily Times, February 9^th 2019.