Eight-year-old Munna (name changed), the HIV-positive child whose case TOI reported on January 30, has died. The boy died in train about two months ago while being brought back to city from Bangalore where his mother had taken him for treatment. His case had highlighted the need for advanced AIDS treatment facilities in city. If such facility had existed, perhaps Munna might still be living.
Munna (Name changed), a brilliant and good looking boy from Nagpur's crammed Timki area, was playing and behaving like other kids at his home when he suddenly collapsed while taking dinner. Next day, he suffered a paralytic attack and on subsequent day, lost his vision. Within a week his health deteriorated and he came to the verge of death.
According to Sameer Shinde of ACCEPT, an NGO that works for welfare of people living with HIV (PLHIV), the innocent kid died a tragic death in the train. The NGO had helped Munna and his mother move to Bangalore for advanced treatment. "There is no intensive care unit dedicated to HIV positive children in Nagpur. All the centres here are meant for adults. Like Munna, several kids meet such tragic end in city," Shinde lamented.
This boy had contracted the deadly virus from his mother who got it from her husband. Munna lost his father, a daily wager, to AIDS five years back. His mother Parvati, also HIV positive, tried hard to save him. In the process she spent her savings of Rs 30,000 accumulated over the years. When TOI last met Munna in January in his crammed 10x5 sq ft room, he was numb and not responding to any queries. Munna's school records and notebooks provided ample testimony to his sharp intellect.
Accept volunteers were making efforts to send him to their Bangalore centre where such treatment was available. When Parvati reached Bangalore, doctors there told her that the virus had infected a major portion of boy's brain and there was little chance of his surviving. The brave mother, however, wanted her child to breathe his last at home, among near and dear ones.
That was not to be. Just when she boarded the train to Nagpur, Munna died. Parvati not only hid her grieve but did not tell anyone that her son was dead. She feared railway authorities and other passengers would not allow her to carry the body in train. She carried his body all the way to city, shedding tears only when she had laid Munna on his bed.
Her life was already shattered after death of her husband. She has been given a helping hand by ACCEPT with whom she works for a meagre salary of about Rs 3,000 on which she manages her household and education of her two remaining children who are, fortunately, HIV-free. She pays Rs 600 as rent for her room and travels by cycle.
'Munna could have been survived'
According to Dr Deepak Goyal from Academy of Paediatrics of Nagpur, Munna could have survived had he received advanced treatment in early stage of disease. "There is an urgent need for such treatment centre in the city. There're over 6,000 kids suffering from this deadly disease here," he said.
He added that Munna was admitted to Lata Mangeshkar Hospital before being shifted to Bangalore. "Dr Pravin Dahake, an expert in treating such cases from our academy, would be providing free consultation at ACCEPT centre at Mankapur. We are moved by the plight of such children and have decided to help the NGO," he said.
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