In August, my office co-organised a medical camp at Desa Ria, a low-cost housing area in my constituency where I met 9 year-old Yatesh.
Yatesh, a soft-spoken and polite boy, has a heart condition and underwent surgery in 2007. He has since been slowly recovering but was advised by his doctor to take multivitamins to strengthen his growth and recovery, multivitamins that his family cannot afford. At that time, Yatesh’s father had just lost his job as a van driver and his mother stayed home to take care of 5 children.
As my community allocation was already exhausted, I sought help directly from the community. This morning my staff met Yatesh in his home with a dozen bottles of multivits from an anonymous donor.
I was told that Yatesh’s father has started working again but with the rising cost of living and GST coming in next year, I worry about whether this family of 7 will be able to improve their living conditions in the near future.