Battle against cancer: 5-year-old Bolangir kid gets new lease of life

Bhubaneswar: Five-year-old Prahlad Bag of Bolangir district has finally won his battle against oral cancer after around two months of treatment at a Mumbai-based hospital.

Doctors at the Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, where he was undergoing treatment since April, have declared him completely cured.

From Bolangir to Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and finally Mumbai, his poverty-stricken parents ran from pillar to post to cure their child. A resident of Marua village near Patnagarh of the district, Prahlad was first admitted to a hospital in Bolangir, from where he was shifted to the Acharya Harihar Regional Cancer Centre, Cuttack. After undergoing treatment for two months, he was again shifted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar. With no improvement in his health condition due to alleged medical negligence, he was referred to the Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai.

Getting to know of Prahlad’s condition and his parents’ financial instability, Mumbai-based NGO Jagannath Cancer Aid Foundation (JACAF) took initiative and facilitated Prahlad’s treatment at the premier cancer institute. However, the Odisha Health Department bore the medical expense of the boy from Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.

Though doctors at Tata Memorial hospital alleged that medical negligence in Odisha aggravated the situation and made his health condition critical, they successfully operated on the child giving him a new lease of life.

His father Jaswant Bag said, “My son was fighting for life. Now he is completely cured. I thank Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and the NGO for helping my son getting his life back.”

Doctor PK Mohanty of JACAF said, “Prahlad’s parents are very happy now.  Their son got cured with the help and coordination of the Jagannath Cancer Foundation, Odisha government and director of Health.”

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