Rickshaw puller with oxygen support returns home

Rajshahi rickshaw-puller Mainuzzaman Sentu, who uses oxygen support to ride his rickshaw, returned to his rented home in Kolabagan area of Rajshahi city from Rajshahi Medical College Hospital today.

With his return, his worries returned on how he would run his family and manage daily expenditures of his medication.

"While I was in the hospital, many people came to see me and offered financial help. Most of the help was spent in the hospital for tests and medicine. Whatever is left will evaporate in a day or two. I don't know what will happen next," Sentu told The Daily Star.

Sentu had been pedalling his rickshaw with oxygen tubes in his nose for several days on the streets of Rajshahi. On May 14, he was hospitalised after becoming sick while pulling his vehicle.

The deputy commissioner of Rajshahi visited him at the hospital and assured him of proper treatment and an employment opportunity upon his return home.

An unidentified man gave him an oxygen concentrator for his respiratory problems. Several people also donated money for his treatment.

On May 18, State Minister of Labour and Employment Ministry Begum Monnujan Sufian sent officials to visit Sentu at the hospital. They assured him of a fund from Bangladesh Workers Welfare Federation under the ministry, according to a press release from the ministry.

When contacted, Ariful Islam, a local official of the ministry said the state minister has instructed them to apply for a handsome amount for Sentu.

The fund would reach Sentu within a week, Ariful said today.

DC Shamim Ahmed on the other hand, said that the assurances by the district administration have become secondary in the face of the assistance Sentu already received.

"We will sit with him and enquire what more he needs. We will ensure he can manage to earn his livelihood in a more sophisticated way," the DC said.

"We will oversee Sentu and his health," the DC added.

Sentu's daughter Ankhi Khatun said, besides providing for his family and daily medicinal expenses, her father has to pay a house rent of Tk 2,000 every month and Tk 2,200 instalments for loans he took from Asha and Grameen Bank every week.