Odisha’s Kumari Naik- The Septuagenarian With 19 Toes & 12 Fingers

Ganjam: Believe it or not. Seventy-five-year-old Kumari Naik of Kadapada village in Buguda block of the district has 19 toes in her feet and an extra finger on both hands, a rare disorder termed as polydactyly. What’s more worse is the elderly woman is also born-dumb.

With such an abnormality in her body, Kumari used to stay with her sister-in-law in Harijansahi of the village. However, she was later shifted to an old-age home.

"Earlier, Kumari used to stay with her sister-in-law. But things turned worse after her sister-in-law suffered a paralytic attack which left her physically unfit to do any work. After that, she was shifted to Hatiota old-age home," informed Kumari's relative.

According to sources, it was only after the intervention of local MLA Srikant Sahu that Kumari was shifted to the old-age home on August 4. Kumari also receives Rs 500 as a pension from the government.

"Kumari is very poor. We request the government to increase her pension quota amount which will be helpful for her," said a local.

"When Kumari was brought to our old-age home, her health condition was not so good. But now she is absolutely fine," informed Chaturbhuja Patnaik, Manager of the old-age home.