After losing son, 40-year-old wife in Mumbai urges man to fight TB

Her husband is infected with the drug resistant form of the infection, which health officials suspect, he acquired from his son.

On September 2, 2016, 40-year-old Lakshmi Yemula, a resident of Prabhadevi, lost her 26-year old son to multi-drug resistant tuberculosis.

40-year-old Yemula lost her son to TB in 2016 and now looks after her husband, who also suffers from TB. (HT Photo)

Today, her husband is infected with the drug resistant form of the infection, which health officials suspect, he acquired from his son.

“My son had stopped his treatment. I kept asking him to take medicines, but he always refused,” she said.

Now, with her husband harbouring the bacterium, Yemula says she can see the same story play again.

“My husband says, with the loss of our son, there is nothing worth living for.” Her daughters are married, but she is financially struggling to make two ends meet.

She makes tobacco bidis at home which sell for Rs50.

The health workers from Prabhadevi have tried, almost four times, to get her husband back to treatment, but he is adamant on not taking medicines.

“Like most of the loss-to-follow-up cases, this patient too is a chronic alcoholic. It is a tough job to bring him back as he refuses to even interact with us,” said Vanita Chare, the health visitor.