RS member offers help to cancer victim

Handy MPLAD fund

Alka, a slum dweller in Kanpur, had moved court for euthanasia as her family could not afford  the surgery. Alka has “aplastic anemia,” a rare form of blood cancer, which requires regular blood transfusion for the past nine years. She moved the court through her brother, who is a stationery vendor, for euthanasia or state aid for surgery. The case is pending in the district court in Kanpur.

“We have sold everything we had, my mother’s jewellery, the family land. We are left with nothing now,” Alka’s brother Brijbihari said. Alka has been asked by doctors to go for a bone marrow transplant next month.

“The surgery will cost us around Rs 20 lakh. From where will we arrange the money? The court should allow her to die and if it refuses then it should make sure that her treatment expenditure is borne by the government,” he said.

 Moved by her plight, BSP Rajya Sabha member from the neighbouring Hamirpur district Ganga Charan Rajput has offered to pay for the surgery. But there is a catch: Can MPLAD funds be used for medical treatment? Rajput has written to Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari in this regard. He has sought his sanction for releasing Rs 20 lakh from his MPLAD funds.

“We hope that we will get the money required for her treatment. That’s our only hope,” said Brijbihari.