Ministry, people react to Star photograph
Aged only two and a half years, Fatema Lamia has had chickenpox once and fever several times, each time recovering without treatment.
In the first few months of her life, her resilience in fighting diseases impressed her mother and neighbours living in a slum on Gabtoli Beri Bandh in the capital.
But her fourth battle seems tougher. She could not recover from fever after more than a week, when neighbours came up with the idea of using neem leaves as a medication.
Her poor mother, Shahnaz Begum, who earns only Tk 1,300 a month by supplying water to two restaurants, had no alternatives but applying that “medication” on July 31.
“I collected some neem leaves and covered her as she slept,” said Shahnaz, who passed time in constant weary over her child’s health as she worked.
She missed her heartbeat for a moment when she saw a huge crowd where she left Lamia. She ran madly only to find her daughter sitting in the midst of the crowd. The crowd informed a photojournalist of The Daily Star who took picture of her daughter.
The Daily Star carried the photo in its front page yesterday, drawing an order from the health ministry to ensure her treatment.
Following the order, Mushfiqur Rahman, deputy civil surgeon of Dhaka, rushed to the slum and had her admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) in the afternoon.
Lamia proved to be very lucky to get medical care in a country where thousands of people including children die without treatment every year.
“Her fever is reducing. We will have her thoroughly examined tomorrow [today] and see if she has other problems,” said Rahman.
Lamia, who was deserted by her father when her mother was only a month’s pregnant, has never been in such care in her life before.
Her elder sister Poly Akter, 11, works in a garment factory at city’s Mirpur. She did not know anything about all that was happening with her sister till late afternoon, as she was at work.
Shahnaz, the 30-year-old single mother, had to employ her little girl who earns Tk 1,200 per month.
The earning of the mother and the daughter combined, however, cannot buy them two meals a day.
Shahnaz needs at least Tk 2,000 for food while the slum rent is Tk 500 per month.
Shahnaz hailed from Mehendiganj of Barisal about 16 years ago failing to cope with poverty in a family where her father married twice.
But she failed to make any luck after being deceived twice in her marriage. Both her husbands tricked her into marriage concealing the information of their previous marriages, she said.
“My only dream is to have Lamia educated. I feel very bad sending my elder daughter to work. I need a job,” said Shahnaz sitting by the hospital bed of her daughter.
-With The Daily Star input
