11-yr-old’s rare birth cataract treated under govt scheme operation in Pune
Prior to the operation however, the girl’s grandmother and subsequently her parents needed a lot of convincing from the Pune ZP authorities
PUNE When Snehal Shivram Warye, 11, underwent a routine health check-up as part of a drive conducted by the Pune zilla parishad (ZP), her family brought to the notice of the ZP that she was suffering from cataract since birth, and that they had been told that she would remain blind forever as there was no cure for this rare birth defect.
However, the girl was subsequently operated upon under the RBSK scheme at the district civil hospital, Aundh, and she is now able to see better and will also be able to continue with her education. The operation and post-operative care was provided completely free-of-charge under the government scheme.
Prior to the operation though, her parents who hail from a tribal area and believed that their daughter was suffering from a curse, needed a lot of convincing from the authorities. So much so that in order to convince her parents, the treating doctors and officials had to first convince her grandmother.
Vanmala Konge, Snehal’s teacher at the Nirmalwadi primary school, said, “Due to the cataract, Snehal was unable to read or write. As her parents were uneducated, they did not follow up on the issue. They were convinced that the girl was suffering due to some curse and that they would not be able to do anything to cure it. We tried to convince them but they did not understand and so we took her along with us for the health check-up. We understood her condition and the doctor promised that with proper treatment, she could get back her vision.”
The doctors, along with Snehal’s teachers, first spoke to her grandmother and explained her condition to them. The grandmother in turn convinced Snehal’s parents. Dr Ashok Bargaje, medical officer at RBSK, Khed, said, “Snehal was suffering from a rare birth cataract and because of that, she had blurry vision. If it would have been left untreated, she could have developed glaucoma leading to a complete loss of vision. The biggest cause of this birth defect is improper nutrition when the mother is pregnant.”
Ayush Prasad, chief executive officer, Pune ZP, said, “We have a multi-layered health check-up for children in which we provide primary to tertiary care all free-of-cost. The major problem we faced during the surgeries and health check-up was the parents’ reluctance to get the child operated as they believed that the child was suffering from some sort of curse or was destined to remain like that. Our doctors and officials on the ground had to convince them that the disease or condition could be cured completely.”