By IANS,
Lucknow: A young cancer patient’s plea for euthanasia in an Uttar Pradesh court Monday prompted a local MP to offer Rs.20 lakh needed for her treatment.
Twentyone-year-old Alka Tiwari, suffering from blood cancer for the past eight months, moved a court in Kanpur, about 80 km from here, to seek permission for her mercy killing.
She sought help from the court because of the agony she was undergoing on account of the terminal disease. Her family could not afford the expensive treatment and periodical blood transfusion.
“Either allow my mercy killing or make some arrangement for my bone-marrow transplant, that would require about Rs.20 lakh,” Alka stated in her application before the court.
Taking note of her plea, the court issued notice to the government and fixed Oct 17 for the next hearing in the matter.
Rajya Sabha MP of the Bahujan Samaj Party Ganga Charan Rajput has now offered to help the girl financially.
Rajput told reporters in Kanpur: “I have written a letter to Vice President M. Hamid Ansari seeking his sanction for taking out that much money out of my constituency fund to save the life of the young girl battling with blood cancer.”
Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad too is understood to have sent a message to the girl’s family, offering free treatment.
Azad was stated to have responded after the editor of a national TV channel drew his attention to the sufferings of the young girl.
The offer of treatment brought smiles to the face of Alka’s mother Surajmukhi, who told reporters: “We had literally given up on Alka’s treatment; whatever we had – land, house and jewellery – everything has got sold and we are now left with nothing even to meet the cost of her periodical blood transfusion.”
“We could never even imagine that someone would come forward to bear the huge cost of her treatment,” she said.