Newborn returns home after 2-month stay in hospital, thanks to Hakim's life-saving gesture

Kolkata: The family members of the newborn child suffering from breathing problem whose medical expenses were borne by Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim, was released from a private hospital at Mukundapur on Tuesday.

The family members of the child who is now two-months-old, came to the Mayor's chamber at the civic body and expressed their gratitude to him before leaving for their residence at Sainthia in Birbhum. The baby was only four-days-old when he was admitted at the private hospital and had been under treatment for nearly two months.

Mousumi Ghatak, a family member of the child, had called up on the Talk to Mayor programme held on September 4 and sought Hakim's intervention regarding the issue.

It was impossible for the family to cough up the Rs 3.54 lakh medical bill that the hospital had charged immediately after starting the treatment of the child.

In a rare gesture, the Mayor immediately got in touch with the manager of the private hospital and asked the authorities to send the bill in his name. "I am so happy that the child has

now recovered completely and his parents who were so anxious, are returning to their village home with smiling faces," Hakim said, taking the child in his lap.

The child's father Sumanta Ghatak said that the total bill of Rs 5.25 lakh incurred for treatment at the hospital has been borne entirely by the Mayor.

"We had lost all hope with our child's condition worsening, but we were unable to bear the expenses for his treatment. He was on ventilation for 22 days. We have no hesitation to admit that we would have failed to save him if Sir (Hakim) had not extended his support," said the child's mother Arpita Ghatak, as tears of joy rolled down her cheeks.

The hospital has asked the family members of the child to come back for a check-up on January 17 next year.

Arpita had given birth to the male child on August 29. He soon developed complications and was taken to Birbhum Sadar Hospital, from where he was shifted to a private nursing home.

The nursing home referred the baby to another private hospital in Durgapur. It was October 31 when the baby was admitted to the private hospital in Kolkata with problems in his lungs.