Two days ago, a PhD scholar from the University of Hyderabad, Surya Pratap Bharati suffered an ischemic stroke leaving him in a critical state. The University’s Students' Union is now coming together to raise funds for his treatment by reaching out to their friends, family and colleague through social media.
Bharati, a scholar from the English Department, has been at the University since 2015. He hails from Uttar Pradesh and is the son of daily wage workers. The 30-year-old, his friends say, had to undergo various hurdles to reach the place he is at and his family is now in dire need of money since they cannot afford the hospital bills.
Bharati had remained on campus during the COVID-19 induced lockdown as he was working on his thesis which he completed only a few days ago. “He submitted his draft only a couple of days ago. He was on campus but since nobody stays in the wing of the hostel that he is staying in, nobody knew when exactly he had the stroke. But just about an hour or so before it had happened he had spoken to one of our friends,” said Gopi Swamy, Bharati’s friend and also the General Secretary of the Students’ Union.
He was immediately rushed to the hospital where doctors said that he would need immediate surgery. But after his reports came back, Bharathi was found to be COVID positive as well, which made it impossible for him to be operated at the hospital as it was not a COVID-treatment approved hospital. He has now been shifted to a different hospital. The student’s grief-stricken father arrived yesterday and has been at his son’s bedside. The family has already paid 50,000 rupees and is unable to afford the rest of the money for the operation.
“In the next 30 days, they need almost Rs.6,00,000 more for surgery and further treatment. His father is not able to pay the money. Surya’s brain is not getting oxygen and he is extremely critical, so we are trying our best to raise funds for his treatment,” Gopi said. So far, the Union has only managed to raise about 1.5 lakh rupees. Gopi met Bharati in 2015 and they’ve been friends since and has heard a lot about the difficulties that Bharati's family has faced and their extremely poor background. “He hadn’t been sleeping because he was working on his thesis, the doctor also said the stroke could have been a result of stress. Now he’s critical,” Gopi said.
The Students’ Union has started an online fundraiser to help Bharati’s father pay his bills and is asking people to contribute, “Please come forward to support our cause. Any contribution will be of immense help. Do contribute and share this campaign link with your friends and family.”
