Fatema, 11, first came to the Calcutta Rescue Street Medicine programme in February 2020, last year when it visited Pahapur slum where she lives with her parents and little brother.

 “We saw a scrawny looking little girl with mother in the line of patients. The girl was having difficulties to stand upright and was leaning on her mother for support. I talked to the mother. She said her daughter feels very weak most of the time,” said Debu, head of CR’s Street Medicine project.  

“I could not work, could not play, could not go to school and sometimes even could not walk. I felt tired all the time,” said Fatema.

Her parents had taken Fatema to a government hospital for tests and she had been diagnosed as suffering from severe anaemia. While the normal haemoglobin level is 12.0-15.5 gm for a girl, Fatema’s was 9.0.  The hospital prescribed her medicines and told her to eat nutritious food – but the family simply couldn’t afford either.

Her mother said: “They prescribed medicines of 2000 rupees per month. But we can’t afford it. My husband earns only 5000 per month. How could I pay for that? We were very worried.” Without the medicines, Fatema grew weaker.

“We spoke with Calcutta Rescue’s Street Medicine Team.”The street medicine doctor arranged for the special nutrition she needed as well as provided her with iron therapy and the required medicines and vitamins..

Fatema’s family suffered a lot during the strict Covid lockdown and cyclone Amphan. Fatema’s father had lost his work.

A few weeks ago she was back at the Street Medicine ambulance with her latest blood test report and the team were delighted that her haemoglobin level was finally back within the normal range(14.4).