On the last day of the year, December 31st, 2016 a couple came to our clinic carrying a 19 days old infant in their arms. The baby, Bhuban, belonged to a family of farmers residing in the district of Jalpaiguri. The parents Deepu and Anita, were ostracised by the other farmers of the district once they had seen the baby’s feet, and were labelled sinners.
The CURE Clubfoot West Bengal team started talking to the parents, and they honestly believed that they had committed a venial, if not mortal sin, because of which they were being punished by their gods. They seemed to accept whatever the rest of the villagers were accusing them of.
After an assuring counselling session, their minds were at ease. They were a little convinced that it was not their fault that the child was born with clubfoot, and they agreed to attend the weekly clinic every Saturday. The more they saw their child’s feet corrected, the more they understood that it wasn’t their fault that he had clubfoot, and were confident of the fact that his feet would be completely cured.
After only eight casting sessions, the doctors decided that his feet were corrected enough to be given the foot abduction brace, and at that moment, Deepu and Anita started crying. The counsellor asked them why they were crying, as the feet were almost healed now, and they said that they were tears of joy. Bhuban’s parents brought him regularly to the clinic for all the follow-up visits. They are very happy with free treatment and foot abduction brace, and are extremely satisfied with the results.
