The Kozhikode district administration has chipped in to help a woman suffering from a rare disease and also offered to build her a house under the government’s LIFE Mission project.
Pavithra, 22, daughter of Kasturi Bai, is staying with her mother in a rented apartment at Chalappuram in Kozhikode city. She has chronic epileptic disorder and can’t get up on her own or walk. The family says that her condition was diagnosed when Pavithra was eight months old. Both of them have been staying on different rented premises in the city for the past eight years. Though she was treated at different places and the family changed their residence multiple times, there was no end to her suffering. They are finding it difficult to even buy medicines now.
The decision to offer financial assistance to her was taken at a hearing of the National Trust for the Welfare of persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities, recently. The Trust, headed by the district collector in each district, is under the Department of Persons with Disabilities of the Union government. Kozhikode Assistant Collector Mukund Kumar visited Pavithra at their residence. She will be allotted a legal guardian.
Her mother would be given a monthly allowance of ₹600 under the Aswasakiranam scheme of the State government. The project assists caregivers of physically and mentally disabled bed-ridden patients, who are their family members or relatives and are unable to take up jobs. Steps are being taken to construct a house for her. She will also be covered under the Niramaya Insurance scheme for affordable healthcare for people with disabilities. The health insurance cover is up to ₹1 lakh. A permanent system would be put in place to ensure treatment, medicines and food for her. Financial assistance would also provided under the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund.
