Unaffordable operation is must for girl with club feet

It will take a fair amount of money for Shrusti Yelve to take normal steps like anyone else. The seven-year-old has a congenital problem with both legs- club foot disorder- which prevents her from walking normally. The girl needs corrective operations costing Rs1.4 lakh, which her father Vijay cannot afford.

Dr Rahul Khot, orthopedic surgeon at Guru Nanak Hospital in Bandra, who is treating the girl, said, "Shrusti's father brought her to us four months ago. She was in extreme pain and unable to walk normally. We didn't have any doubt that she had club foot disorder, which affects 1 in 1000 children."

Dr Khot said that due to lack of money, her father was unable to get her operated upon shortly after birth. "Usually, corrective surgery needs to be done within a month or two after birth. In her case, the family was financially incapable of getting the surgery done, hence the delay," said Dr Khot.

Shrusti, who studies in standard 1, has an ulcer on her left leg. "She has got a very bad ulcer on her left leg because she is walking with the deformity. In her present state, she requires surgery at the earliest or the ulcer will not heal and she will have more deformity, restricting her movements totally," said Dr Khot.

If the father manages to raise the money, the doctors plan to do the surgery within a month's time. "The bones have already developed and the corrective surgery will be challenging. We may require multiple surgeries. To begin with, we plan to do procedure called triple arthropedsis and osteotomy that will correct the deformity in both her legs. The cost of the surgery per leg will be around Rs 70,000," said Dr Khot.

While speaking to dna, the Bandra resident Vijay said, "I have an aged mother and mother-in-law who are dependent upon me, and are not keeping well. When Shrusti was born and doctors told us about the operation, we kept on postponing it due to lack of money. With a monthly salary of Rs 8,000, it is difficult for us to save anything. Now her condition has worsened and she walks with great difficulty."

Vijay works as an office boy. "Doctors say that if the surgery is not done at the earliest, she will lose out on her chance of living a normal life. I want to see my daughter walk and play like normal children," he said.

Clubfoot is a range of foot abnormalities affecting a child at birth. The deformity comprises the child's foot turning inward at such a drastic angle that that the bottom of the foot may face sideways or even upward. Approximately one infant in every 1,000 has clubfoot, making the disorder one of the more common congenital (present at birth) foot deformities.

Clubfoot is not painful during infancy. If left untreated, though, the foot remains deformed, and the child is unable to walk normally.