MALAPPURAM: Yassin Ahamed Ali and Tunis Abdulla, a couple from Yemen, has been in Kerala for the past two months for the treatment of their three-year-old son diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). With the help of their friend and former colleague Sreeja Ullas, a native of Kozhencherry, they have been running from pillar to post seeking assistance for the boy’s treatment, which would cost more than Rs 1.5 crore.
With most of the hospitals providing advanced treatment facilities closed down in Yemen, the couple brought their son Hashim Yasin, who was suffering from health issues, to Maharashtra in September. The boy was diagnosed with SMA after tests at two hospitals in Mumbai and Pune. The doctors informed them that the treatment would cost more than Rs 1.5 crore. However, the duo had only little money with them, which they had amassed by selling off their property in Yemen. With no other option to save their child, the couple decided to travel to Pathanamthitta in November to meet their friend Sreeja, with whom the couple has been staying ever since.
“We were working at the same hospital in Yemen. I was a lab technician, Tunis was a nurse and Yassin a pharmacist at the hospital in Sanaa. Me and my husband Ullas Kumar had to return to Kerala in 2015 due to the internal strife in the country,” says Sreeja.
Since November, Sreeja has been knocking on the doors of people’s representatives and officials of various organisations, seeking assistance for treatment. Sreeja had met Health Minister Veena George, Union Minister V Muraleedharan, former leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala and Pathanamthitta District Collector Divya S Iyer. Sreeja says Divya has sent a letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan citing the misery of the Yemeni family.
Sreeja says the child will not survive without treatment. To push the government to take all possible measures to help the child, Sreeja, along with the Yemeni family, visited Indian Union Muslim League state president Panakkad Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal and Muslim Youth League state president Munavvar Ali Shihab Thangal in Malappuram on Tuesday.
“He needs treatment immediately. Also, the visa of the Yemeni family members will expire in January. The government should help the family renew their visas. The family also expects financial aid from charity organisations,” Sreeja says. The members of the Thangal family that runs several charity organisations promised to help the family after discussing the matter with the state government and the hospital authorities in Kochi.