INDIA:A seven-year old girl, thrown into a river by her father to drown because he could not afford treatment for her kidney ailment, has been rescued by fishermen and returned to her family in northern India.
Police said Sarita's father Phool Chand took the extreme step earlier this week after doctors in India's financial capital Bombay (Mumbai), said dialysis treatment for his daughter's renal failure would cost more than €5,249.
This was way beyond what Mr Chand, a vegetable seller with a wife, mother and four other children to support, could afford.
On returning home despondent to Jaunpur, his hometown in Uttar Pradesh state about 500km east of New Delhi, Mr Chand threw his daughter into a nearby river, police said, hoping she would die.
One of the fishermen who saved the girl said: "We were sitting by the river when we heard someone fall and heard screaming, 'papa, save me'.
"We rushed to the spot and recovered the young girl and handed her over to the police."
The incident has shocked the country and triggered a flurry of donations to pay for Sarita's treatment. Reunited with her mother and siblings, Sarita cannot comprehend why her father, who had taken good care of her, suddenly changed.
"I don't know why but my father threw me in the river," Sarita said of her parent, who has disappeared. She is happy to be back with her family and is looking forward to returning to her village school but will have to leave shortly for her dialysis.
"Her father experienced a temporary moment of insanity which is why he threw her off the bridge," Sarita's mother Jadawati said yesterday.
Dialysis treatment is expensive in India. People with non-functional kidneys, including those waiting for a transplant, are required to undergo dialysis every week and in some cases when the patient's condition is serious it can be necessary twice a week.
In a state-run hospital a single dialysis session costs from 2,000 to 3,000 rupees (€36-€54) or about 12,000 rupees (€216) a month, a large sum of money for most Indians and especially for someone such as Sarita's father. The cost doubles in private hospitals.
Sarita's plight, highlighted by a television news channel, has touched many and offers of financial and medical help have started pouring in. Even the normally hardhearted police have taken a humanitarian view and are not pressing charges against Sarita's father.
"We have been told that Sarita's father is extremely poor and could not afford her treatment. We are worried more about her treatment," police officer Yogendra Shukla said.