The 25-year-old woman is suffering from aplastic anaemia and immediately needs bone marrow transplant. Unfortunately, she belongs to a low-income family who cannot afford the expensive treatment.
Rubina has six sisters--five married and one younger--and two brothers, who are students.
Her mother, Naseem Akhter, sells milk and is the sole bread earner of their family. Rubina’s father, Mohammad Yousuf, used to be a shopkeeper but lost his mental balance when he leant about Rubina’s disease and lack of financial resources for her treatment.
“Currently we have collected Rs100,000 by selling goats and one bull for Eid. We still need Rs1.5-1.6 million for the transplant,” said Mohammad Banaras, maternal uncle of Rubina Bibi.
In a society where odds are often weighed against a woman who finds herself in such a predicament, Rubina has found a saviour in her uncle. Banaras, 54, is a man who put aside his professional life to fight for his niece’s life.
Banaras said that Rubina had a cheerful and loving personality and had been committed to a cousin since her childhood. In 2008, she was diagnosed with typhoid but since there were no medical facilities in her area, she was taken to a hakeem who gave her some herbs.
“She improved initially but soon her condition started deteriorating and she ended up with acute anemia,” said Banaras. She started losing weight and all the freshness from her face faded away, he added.
In May 2010, when her condition worsened her father took her to Holy Family Hospital in Rawalpindi.
That was when she was diagnosed with blood cancer, Banaras recalled.
Doctors said bone marrow transplant would be the only solution to cope with her disease, a treatment that the family could not afford.
Banaras said that this news made her father bust into tears and lose his sanity.
Rubina remained in the hospital for eight days where she was given blood transfusion and platelets. Knowledge of her disease caused Rubina to develop severe depression.
“She thinks she is fighting a lost battle,” said Banaras.
Due to shortage of beds in the hospital, when dengue fever patients started arriving, she was asked to go home
Banaras said bone marrow transplant is only available at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Rawalpindi. Rubina will need a donor, someone to give her the required bone marrow.
“We are so unfortunate. We have a donor in the form of her younger sister Marium, but do not have money for the procedure,” he said.
Banaras has also written a letter to chief minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif for financial assistance, but he was told that all current resources were being given to flood victims.
“Baitul Mal has promised to give Rs600,000 for her treatment but without specifying any time frame,” he added.
After learning about her illness, Rubina’s in-laws have become reluctant about marrying their son to her. Banaras appealed that the government and all privileged people support him in this cause by making generous donations.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 22nd, 2010.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ