13 years old Chiranjit had not submitted his homework one day in May. That was a first. Chiranjit is a mischievous boy but he always did his studies diligently.
So, after two days of silence from his end, his teacher Priyanka called his family. Chiranjit’s mother told Priyanka that he was suffering from a high fever for the last two days and he was shivering a lot. “At first we thought that he was suffering from a common cold. I bought medicines for him from a local medicine shop. But his fever was not going down. So when the Calcutta Rescue teacher called us, I told her about his condition. We were very much scared.” said Chiranjit’s mother.
CR teachers immediately contacted Dr Ghosh, CR’s Deputy CEO (medical). Dr Ghosh said: “The first thing we asked the parents was if they had any symptoms or not. The parents said they did not have any symptoms. Shivering a lot with a high temperature and sweating are not primary Covid symptoms. We wanted to do a blood test for Dengue Fever and Malaria.”
“Chiranjit’s family lives beside a dumpster near the river Ganges. The area is a breeding ground for mosquitoes. So there was a chance that he contracted one of those diseases.” said Ananya Chatterjee, Head of Education at Calcutta Rescue.
Chiranjit was taken to the local government health centre, but it was only doing Covid tests.
“I requested them to do a blood test showing our child who could not even stand on his own. But they refused to take his blood sample that day.” said Chiranjit’s father, “However, later on, they agreed and told us to visit them next week.”
And that was dangerous because Chiranjit’s fever was getting worse.
“We immediately took him to a private pathological laboratory where Chiranjit could have the blood test,” said Dr Ghosh. Finally, the blood test was done and the report came on the same day showing he had malaria. Calcutta Rescue immediately prescribed medicines for him and within two days his fever had totally gone.
Chiranjit’s family is very relieved. “My son is doing well now. He is still a bit weak but he is improving fast,” said Chiranjit’s mother.
