8 year old Raheena had a cough. She was not overly concerned, after all her friends got coughs and colds all the time. But over the next 2 months, the cough persisted and she began to feel a little out of breath when she runs. Her aunt, who had been looking after her since her mother dies, remarked that she looked thin. Maybe she should go to a doctor? Her father however was not too keen. The monsoon had failed again and doctors cost money.

In another month, Raheena had worsened drastically. She could hardly walk without feeling breathless and had a fever every evening. Her father reluctantly took her to the village quack who gave her some syrup and told her not to drink milk or eat vegetables. Two weeks later with no improvement, her father took her to the town 30 kms away to see a doctor. After a series of investigations, the doctor diagnosed TB and gave them medicine for 1 week. They had spent nearly all the money her father was saving for a new cow. There was no question of going back. If the medicines don’t work in a week, what use is it to get more of them? In two weeks, Raheena had taken to her bed, and was hardly eating at all.  Her family resigned themselves to the fact that she was dying.

One day, a friend from a nearby village happened to visit. He was shocked to see Raheena. There is a hospital nearby which treats tuberculosis, he says. And most importantly, the treatment is free!

When Raheena came to the Nav Jivan Hospital, one side of her chest was filled with pus and the other side had extensive tuberculosis. She stayed at Nav Jivan for one month. She received free treatment as well as nutritious food. She spent most of that time lying in bed with a tube in her chest draining the pus. But when she was well enough to walk around, she would visit various parts of the hospital, brightening the sometimes-gloomy wards with her smile. Today, she has completed her treatment and bears no sign of the disease that nearly took her life.

With the government able to provide drugs only for adult patients in the treatment area and the hospital unable to subsidise the hospital stay, medications, nutritious food and awareness work required, the hospital’s TB doctor says the programme would have struggled but for its partnership with TB Alert. Many children like Raheena have been offered a fresh breath of life thanks to the treatment they have received from Nav Jivan’s TB programme.

Raheena says thank you - click here