IDUKKI: She is nine months old. Partially deaf, partially blind and under the care of Karuna Bhavan in Rajakkadu at present. Goes by the name, Malootty, she was born prematurely into this world after her mother’s attempt to terminate the pregnancy went south. Just when things were looking bad for her, it got worse. “Malootty was abandoned by her mother at birth after her efforts to abort the child failed,” Treesa Thankachan, Managing Trustee of Karuna Bhavan, told ‘Express’.
The baby was kept in an incubator till she was safe to be handed over to Karuna Bhavan in Udumbanchola taluk, she said. She was kept under close watch and it was during one of those monitoring sessions, the doctors discovered that her visual and auditory faculties are compromised.
The activists of Karuna Bhavan started looking for the right hospital to restore her eyesight. Their search came to a close when they found LV Prasad Eye Hospital in Hyderabad.“We approached the hospital. Though the response of the medicos were positive, funds were still a problem. However, with the help of a few well wishers we managed to pool the money. The operation on one of the eyes was performed on April 17. Her eyes are showing signs of recovery while she is getting ready for the operation on the other eye,” she said.
The Adimali Janamaithri police station had donated `5,000 for the operation, she added. “We have a welfare association which keeps aside a portion of its income for helping the needy,” Adimali Basheer said.
“The adoption centre had approached us for help and we agreed readily,” Basheer said. The infant’s surgery is posted for May 15 in Hyderabad.