Tribune News ServiceJalandhar, November 4
She is too innocent to know why nature has played such a dual cruel joke with her, first by having been abandoned in fields and then by having detected to be HIV positive at the tender age of about two months.
Her well-wishers and caretakers at Pushpa Gujral Nari Niketan, run by the family of a former Prime Minister, Mr Inder Kumar Gujral, are offering prayers for saving her from falling into cruel hands of fate.
Hopes for the little girl are based on the optimism of doctors in New Delhi who think that in all probability she could be saved.
Nikita, as she is named and called by Nari Niketan inmates and officials, was found abandoned in the fields of Atta village, near Goraya, on August 10. She was noticed by villagers, who informed the Goraya police about their ‘little’ discovery. The village panchayat, it was learnt, desired to hand over the child to a childless couple of the village, but on the recommendation of the SDM, Phillaur, the child was sent to Pushpa Gujral Nari Niketan on August 18.
A few weeks ago she was diagnosed as HIV positive when a couple, shortlisted by the authorities, yearned to adopt her.
After being told by the local chapter of the Missionaries of Charity that there was no specialised facility available to take care of such kids in Jalandhar, the Nari Niketan authorities contacted the Delhi chapter of the Missionaries of Charity where she was taken by the Nari Niketan general secretary, Ms Anjana Talwar, this morning. Mr Naresh Gujral, Chairman, Pushpa Gujral Nari Niketan Trust, also played an important role for her treatment in New Delhi.
“We have high hopes that she would defeat death and disease and our hopes are based on doctors’ belief that such cases are curable particularly if the disease is diagnosed at an early stage,” said Col R.C. Mahendroo, Director and Chief Executive of the trust.
