Nandurbar Girl in Mumbai Hospital: 3 months after hospitalisation, paraplegic girl discharged

In November, state health minister Deepak Sawant announced that the government, under the Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana, would cover the costs of Ravita’s treatment. Her surgery cost Rs 60,000 and special medicines for her spinal cord cost between Rs 30,000 and 40,000, but the package under the scheme only approved Rs 34,000. The hospital then delayed her discharge and tried to raise funds through social workers to cover the remaining treatment cost.

“We had applied for normal orthopaedic surgery initially under the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana. But her surgery was more advanced, it was a spinal cord surgery. We have requested the insurance scheme to upgrade the code for her surgery so that more insurance coverage can be made possible,” said hospital deputy superintendent Dr Vikas Mainda. Ravita underwent a spine surgery that required 12 screws to be fitted in the backbone. But the scheme only covered the cost of eight screws, each costing Rs 3,500-4,000.

Dr MB Tayade, hospital superintendent, said Ravita’s condition required special intervention. “Since it is a tribal family, they will not have rehabilitation support in their village. We have been doing physiotherapy daily to help her improve her movements.” The girl, who speaks only the local Bhili language, can now sit for longer durations and can shift her body on her own, but her legs remain paralysed. NGO Chetna Trust has provided her with a wheelchair.

“We want to send her to a school, but it’s on another hill. We will see how to settle her once we return,” said her mother Shanti Valvi. Her father, Rajya Valvi, a farmer, said that for last three months they remained by their daughter’s side in Mumbai for her treatment. “My remaining children are with relatives in the village. We do not have money to look after all her needs.”