A man in Jharkhand has turned to begging in order to pay his wife's medical bills at a Jamshedpur hospital .
Anwar's wife Mehrunisa was admitted to the Tata Memorial Hospital in May after being critically ill, local media reports said. After treatment, she was declared fit on June 12. However, the couple were shocked to receive a whopping Rs.22,000 bill - an amount beyond Anwar's economic capacity.The couple were then prevented from leaving the hospital unless they paid the entire amount. With no other option in sight, Anwar, a daily wage labourer, started begging outside the hospital to raise the huge sum.
"I came here for my wife's treatment after taking a loan of Rs.4,000 from my neighbours. I don't know how I will pay the bills. I also have to repay the loans. I requested the hospital management to waive the amount, but they expressed their inability to do so," Anwar was quoted as saying by local media.
He said: "The hospital bill equals our annual income."
Mehrunisa is now desperate to meet her children. The couple has six children who stay at their ancestral home in Saraikela district, 100 km from Jamshedpur. "I want to meet my children. I have not seen them for the last one-and-half months," lamented Mehrunisa. The mother's pleas to meet her kids, however, have not brought about any change of heart in the hospital management.
Anwar wakes up early in the morning and starts begging at the gate of the hospital until nightfall. He has no idea how long he will have to beg to collect the required money, pay the bills and go back to home.
