I was reading the paper here this morning and was quite shocked to read this story (see attached pic...)
The story says that a mother in a rural part of India, was faced with mounting medical bills after some emergency heart surgery. The mother was estranged from her family and with no other support, decided to sell her son. She recieved about 1.2 Lakhs (Which is about $2100 AUD).
In India, a male child is basically the future of a family. The son has the responsibility to take care of the parents in their old age, to carry on the family name and also is the bread winner for the family as the father ages. The child was sold to a family without a male child.
The story was a little sketchy on the details, but it reminded me of the sheer desperation that people in living in the conditions here, are faced with.
Such things in Australia are unheard of and more over, our health system, despite some issues, is incredible in comparison with what happens here in India.
Each year when we pay our health care premium or the medicare tax, as high as that may be, let's not forget that for us in Australia we are so so blessed. We would never be denied treatment due to a lack of money.
Certainly not what happens here...
This is an area that Ashirvad Kanti works in, through their contact with the slum communities of Nagpur. In recent times, they were able to pay for the surgery of a young girl with a hole in her heart and currently they are looking to financially support a young woman also with a heart condition, who is currently undergoing the tailoring vocational training.
Obviously these things are only possible when funding is available. One of the dreams of the ministry is to have an emergency medical fund so that when a crisis presents itself, they can respond to the needs.
___________________________
It this is something you'd like to be involved in, feel free to contact us - our email is marten.visser@hotmail.com or karen.visser@hotmail.com
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| Taken from "Hitavada" Newspaper in Nagpur, India - 1st November, 2012 |
The story says that a mother in a rural part of India, was faced with mounting medical bills after some emergency heart surgery. The mother was estranged from her family and with no other support, decided to sell her son. She recieved about 1.2 Lakhs (Which is about $2100 AUD).
In India, a male child is basically the future of a family. The son has the responsibility to take care of the parents in their old age, to carry on the family name and also is the bread winner for the family as the father ages. The child was sold to a family without a male child.
The story was a little sketchy on the details, but it reminded me of the sheer desperation that people in living in the conditions here, are faced with.
Such things in Australia are unheard of and more over, our health system, despite some issues, is incredible in comparison with what happens here in India.
Each year when we pay our health care premium or the medicare tax, as high as that may be, let's not forget that for us in Australia we are so so blessed. We would never be denied treatment due to a lack of money.
Certainly not what happens here...
This is an area that Ashirvad Kanti works in, through their contact with the slum communities of Nagpur. In recent times, they were able to pay for the surgery of a young girl with a hole in her heart and currently they are looking to financially support a young woman also with a heart condition, who is currently undergoing the tailoring vocational training.
Obviously these things are only possible when funding is available. One of the dreams of the ministry is to have an emergency medical fund so that when a crisis presents itself, they can respond to the needs.
___________________________
It this is something you'd like to be involved in, feel free to contact us - our email is marten.visser@hotmail.com or karen.visser@hotmail.com
1 comment:
That's terrible!!!! Just read that to my students and even they were in shock ... As wade shared during his POF - we are blessed!!!!!!!
Xxxxx
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