Family in Odisha’s Deogarh district disabled for generations

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Deogarh, Jan 29:

The members of this family in Odisha’s Deogarh district are born healthy, but develop weak muscles and arched leg by the time they start walking properly. The condition worsens with age and they turn lame and later get paralysed completely and it happens generations after generations.

“I don’t know why we are suffering like this. Is it a curse or something else..we can never understand why God gave us this plight,” rued old Mahargeswar Pradhan, the head of the family of Rangal Bahal village under Dandasingha panchayat of Barkot block.

While Late Benudhar Pradhan was the first one in family to have afflicted with the disease, three of his six sons are now having the same fate. At present, 10 living members of this family are lame.

While Benudhar’s three sons Mahargeswar, Panchanan and Late Shukadeb experienced physical deformity in the family’s second generation, Mahargeswar’s son Kulamani and Shukadeb’s both son and daughter experienced the same fate in the third generation. In the fourth generation, Shukadeb’s daughter’s daughter (granddaughter) and Kulamani’s 14 year old daughter are also suffering from this unknown disease.

While Mahargeswar uses a tricycle provided by the district administration, Panchanan manages to walk with difficulty. The only source of income of this family is a small shop managed by Panchanan.

While the family approached the district administration for support few years back, the government did its best by providing a tricycle and disability stipend to the family without making any effort to diagnose the disease and its prevention.

“I guess it is a genetic disorder. However, we will send a medical team to the village to investigate this further,” Manoj Upadhyay, ADMO of Debagarh District Headquarters Hospital, told OST.