Berhampur: Santosh Sabar had hoped that he would be able to fulfil his parents’ dream to make him a doctor. But the day he found himself on a hospital bed with a leg severed after a train accident, he realized that fate had played a cruel joke on him.
Santosh Sabar, the eldest of the five children of Subash Sabar and Chandini of Anjar Singh village in Rayagada block in Gajapati district, is undergoing treatment in the orthopaedic ward of MKCG Medical College and Hospital in Berhampur.
Doctors treating him have already made it clear to his family that his other leg also needs to be amputated.
Subash, a farmer, has never let his children feel neglected. The couple compromised on many things to get their children educated.
Santosh was a Plus III second year student at Shree Ram College at Kashinagar in Gajapati district. As he was determined to be a doctor he had opted for the science stream.
He used to stay in a rented house in Gunupur and his siblings were also staying with him.
On Saturday night he boarded the Gunupur-Puri train for Kashinagar to meet a friend. At about 9 pm, the train was slowly pulling into Kashinagar station. Santosh was standing near the door to get off the train. Before he could realise anything, someone pushed him from behind and he fell off the train and his legs came under the wheels.
Railway police rushed him to Kashinagar Community Health Centre (CHC). Later, he was shifted to MKCG Medical College and Hospital as his condition worsened. On Sunday his left leg was amputated.
Subash, who has been in the hospital with his wife since Santosh’s admission, is left with no money. Whatever he had saved has been spent. The parents have now no means to fund their son’s treatment.
Meanwhile, former student leader Sushant Samal visited Santosh and gave some money to his parents. He also promised to extend all possible help.
While interacting with this correspondent, Subash said he had never let poverty interfere with Santosh’s studies.
“When my son lost his legs our dreams crashed. Without the help of the government and private organizations treatment will be impossible,” he said with tears in his eyes.
PNN