A 30-year-old visually impaired man lost his voice after he consumed acid from a bottle which he thought contained water.

Moreover, he is struggling to meet his medical expenses at the Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) in Madurai. Shankarappan of Madurai was orphaned at a tender age and has been living with his cousin. The man used to earn Rs 150 per day by working at a bag shop in the city. Two weeks ago, he accidentally consumed sulphuric acid when he was alone at home. The acid was kept to clean the bathroom. He was rushed to GRH where doctors found that the upper part of his oesophagus was damaged.

The doctors  performed a gastro astrame surgery and assured that his vocal cord can be restored within six weeks. “The patient has already been diagnosed with tuberculosis, so the medicine is administered through injection. The patient is undergoing treatment at GRH and cannot take any liquid diet,” said a doctor. In addition to this, the non-availability of medicine at the GRH is making it difficult for Shankarappan to meet the expenses.

His uncle Ramakrishnan, who takes care of him at the hospital, is finding it difficult to buy medicines. He needs to spend Rs 110 to Rs 150 per day to purchase tablets from private medical shops. “We came to the GRH hoping that we would get treatment free of cost. But we are forced to buy  tablets from private medical shops”, said Ramakrishnan.

When contacted, doctors said the tablets prescribed for Shankarappan were hard to find and that there was no stock of the medicine at the hospital.