A heart-rending petition was filed at the Collectorate today, by parents of an autistic teenager, pleading mercy killing or help them to treat him with Government aid.
Manimekalai along with her two sons, resides at Lingappa Chetty Street, Theppakulam area. She is a single parent and has been engaged in home-based small scale business for her survival. Her elder son Goutham (23) has been pursuing his education in a private college, while her younger son Jai Ganesh (20) is suffering from severe autism. Ganesh's grandparents claim that he was born as a healthy child but it all turned out drastic after a fever, when he was 4.5 years old. Post the ailment, he started showing signs of autism and his speech was also highly altered, they said.
'Since then, the struggle for the family got worse, it became very challenging to manage Ganesh at home. We could manage him at home, hence opted to admit him at Kilpauk Medical College Hospital, Chennai'. they said. After a few years, the Kilpauk Medical Hospital asked Manimekalai to take Ganesh back, as were unable to maintain him at the ward. Left with no choice, Ganesh was brought back home. When his mother approached the Coimbatore Government Hospital for admission and treatment for his autism, they denied admission, as this is no special ward to treat autistic victims.
Due to financial crisis, Ganesh's family is unable to cope up with his medical allowance nor maintain him at home. Hence, his grandparents, his brother have jointly petitioned the District Collector, TN Hariharan to help them seek a solution for the issue or grant them permission to mercy kill him.
