MADURAI: Little does 35-year-old D Mahendran, from Godhra in Gujarat, know that he was an agent of a significant change at the Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) in Madurai. Prompted by a notice served by the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC), seeking an explanation for his alleged abandonment by GRH after he was rescued with leg injury from the road opposite the hospital, the GRH management, in a first in South Tamil Nadu, set up a dedicated 'rehabilitation ward' to treat patients abandoned by families and those without caretaker. Today, Mahendran is on Cloud Nine as he journeys back to Gujarat to reunite with his family after living on the streets of an unfamiliar land for four years.
Mahendran was found with external orthopaedic fixations on his right leg and in a terrible condition when he was rescued by the Indian Red Cross Society on December 21, 2020 following media reports that he had been abandoned by GRH for want of a caretaker. He was readmitted to the hospital the same day.
Taking cognisance of the media reports, the SHRC issued notice to the Directorate of Medical Education, seeking an explanation. The hospital dean Dr J Sangumani maintained that it was Mahendran who had left the hospital midway through the treatment. Yet, as a result of the intervention, in 10 days a dedicated ward for abandoned patients was unveiled at the Trauma Care Centre (TCC) block with 10 beds. A volunteer from Idhayam Trust has been stationed at the ward, which is usually full, to cater to the needs of the injured, destitute patients.
Meanwhile, Mahendran, having received a haircut from volunteers, became a totally new man. On Friday evening, he was discharged from the hospital as the ward’s first patient.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, the Idhayam Trust field educator M G Madharsha (28), the only person with whom Mahendran communicated, recalled that he had initially refused to open up. “Then he gradually began to converse in broken Hindi as he only knows Gujarati. An uneducated father of two sons, he told us that he was brought to Tamil Nadu for the job of laying floor tiles. With language posing a great barrier, he ended up as a beggar," Madharsha said.
While wandering on the streets of Madurai a couple of months ago, he was hit by a two-wheeler and was admitted to the GRH. “Mahendran told us that the GRH staff was irked by him and asked him to leave as he did not have any caretaker,” Madharsha added.
"When asked about his family, Mahendran tried to tell us a phone number in Gujarati but I did not understand. When given a phone, he dialled his brother-in-law who, thankfully, could speak fluent Hindi. He told us that the family had been searching for him for four years."
Six months after he left for Tamil Nadu, Mahendran’s wife deserted their children to marry another man. Since then, Mahendran's father had been the family’s sole breadwinner, said GR Sivakumar, the chief executive director of Idhayam Trust.
At this juncture, the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Anna Nagar) T K Lilly Grace arranged for Rs 20,000 to facilitate Mahendran's safe return home. “She felt that Mahendran's family would be saddened to learn he had been a beggar and was firm that he should not return home penniless," said Sivakumar. Grace visited Mahendran on Friday after he was shifted to the shelter home run by the NGO.
After handing over Rs 10,000 to Mahendran, the balance Rs 10,000 is being spent on the train fare for Mahendran and the two volunteers from the NGO who are accompanying home, added Sivakumar. “Unaware of his wife deserting the children, Mahendran has been yearning to return to his family since the day he shared the contact number. Today, he is a happy man looking forward to setting foot on his native soil," Madharsha said.