Hetauda, October 7:

Man Bahadur Theeng of ward 4 in Padampokhari VDC of Makwanpur district spent all his life providing medical treatment to others. Now, in the twilight of his life when he is himself afflicted there is no one to put ointment on his wound or even offer him water. Theeng is stricken with a wound that refuses to heal, that is festering and from which worms keep dropping.

Those very people whom he treated all his life have dumped him in a bamboo hut in the middle of a forest half-a-kilometre from the village that is located 10 km from Hetauda.

The wound has affected his leg badly and the stench is also palpable. “The wound was small initially. I made the mistake of cutting it with a razor blade and trying to squeeze out the pus,” said Theeng.

The hut is so small that he has difficulty staying in it. There are no fixed meal times for him, and he does not get any visitors. His relative Kanchha Lal Theeng said Man Bahadur’s hands are also becoming non-functional.

Theeng finds it difficult to walk. He relieves himself by twisting on his side. Crammed in a hut hardly the size of a toilet, Theeng is forced to spend his days lying on soiled clothes. The cold air nips at him at night through the crevices in the bamboo hut. Pointing to the dirty floor of the hut, Theeng rued, “At least they could have sent me to hospital.” Theeng was living in Kanchha Lal’s house when his leg started rotting and worms began dropping from the wound.

Kanchha shifted him to the goat pen in the backyard of the house. Theeng stayed there for two months, but the stench from the wound in his leg began pervading the sleeping quarters and kitchen in the house. Disgusted at the stench in Kanchha’s house, neighbours and friends stopped coming to his house. Then, Kanchha and the rest of the family packed Theeng off to the hut in the forest.

Local health expert Nirmala Bloan said Theeng is probably suffering from leprosy. Makwanpur Handicapped Care Centre chairman Keshav Prasad Mudbhari urged Theeng’s relatives to arrange for his treatment. Theeng told this daily that while the wound in his leg is not visible, it aches badly and that he is unable to sleep for fear of wild animals.