Khotang, February 25

Ratna Maya Sharki, 45, a fire victim is still waiting for treatment expenses at Rawabesh Rural Municipality in Khotang.

Ratna Maya’s body was totally charred by the fire caused by children who were playing with a lighter on February 21. Ratna Maya and her husband Dhan Bahadur were filling the tank of a machine with petrol when the incident occurred. Police said property worth Rs 12 lakh was reduced to ashes in the incident. Gold, cash, utensils, food grains, clothes, among other items, were completely destroyed in the incident, said police.

Meanwhile, locals had collected Rs128,000 and handed it to the fire victims as relief amount. Ratna Maya was airlifted to Kathmandu after treatment was not possible in district-based hospitals.  She is receiving treatment in Kathmandu-based Model Hospital.

According to Dhan Bahadur, the doctors had advised him to change the skin in the affected parts. The skin has to be grafted from family members of the same lineage. “But no one is ready to offer skin,” he said. He added that he had already spent Rs 3 to 4 lakh and he is still facing problems treating his wife as the amount is insufficient.