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| Jammu girl lives with bullet in her body | | |
Friday, September 29, 2006 (Jammu):
Fourteen-year-old Devi lives with a bullet in her body, the lasting scars of one of the worst periods in Indo-Pak relations.
In 1999 when she was just six, Devi was hit by a bullet fired from Pakistan at the border village of Manyari in Kathua.
The bullet ripped through her intestines causing severe internal damage. After an unsuccessful operation the bullet remained in her body.
She was put on a machine to help her excrete through a tube in her stomach.
"We took her to the Government Medical College the doctors had operated her and left the bullet inside as it was. They de toxicated the effect of the bullet completely," said Baldesh Kumar, Devi's brother.
"All that I want is that the bullet which still remains inside should not trouble my daughter any longer. Her excretory system has been operated now after eight long years," said Pushpa Devi, Devi's mother.
Costly surgery
Treatment was possible but Devi's family could not afford the cost of surgery.
Moved by her plight people of her village raised Rs 15,000 and one act of kindness led to another.
The private hospital where she was taken decided to treat her free of cost. The bullet is still embedded in her lower back but doctors say it's harmless.
"We had admitted her in the economically weaker section and she was given treatment. Dr Kumar operated her and by God's grace everything went on well and the girl is absolutely fine and the entire expenditure was borne by our institution," said Dr S S Soodan, Prinicpal, Shri Acharaya Med College and Hospital, Jammu.
After ceasefire peace has returned to the border village but for countless people like Devi the price paid is too much and their scars will never heal completely.
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