Poor parents seek help for thalassemia-affected kids

Mahfuzur Rahman, 10, and his sister Bithi Ara, 7, both undergoing treatment for thalassemia at Dinajpur Medical College Hospital, give pitiful look as their day labourer father is too poor to continue the highly expensive treatment. PHOTO: STAR

Two siblings, undergoing extremely expensive treatment for thalassemia at Dinajpur Medical College Hospital (DjMCH), are in dire need of financial help as their poor and ailing father finds the task too tough.
The ill-fated kids are Md Mahfuzur Rahman, 10, and Bithi Ara, 7, children of Aynul Islam, a day labourer of Nasratpur village under Chirirbandar upazila of Dinajpur.
"Around five years ago, doctors detected thalassemia of my elder son. Two years later my only daughter was diagnosed with the same disease. Being a day labourer, I could not arrange proper treatment for them," said a tearful Aynul, himself suffering from kidney problems.
As condition of the two kids worsened, Aynul sold his valuables and with the help of locals admitted them to DjMCH around one and a half months ago.
On Wednesday, a team of doctors led by Dr ATM Zillur Rahman, a senior surgeon of DjMCH, conducted an operation on Mahfuzur and removed his badly inflated spleen.
"A surgery on Bithi will be done after 10 or 12 days. We will also conduct a test on the youngest sibling 18-month-old Mahid for the same disease," said Dr Zillur.
Mahfuzur and Bithi were brought to the hospital when their condition turned serious, he added.
"My two kids have already received at least 40 bags of blood in last 35 days. Around Tk 5,000 is being spent daily for their treatment," said Aynul Islam.
Aynul and his wife Majia Begum have appealed to the affluent people of the society for help for treatment of their children.