MUMBAI, January 16: Ending more than a week of uncertainty, the Election Commission on Thursday finally allowed the state government to issue cheques to poor patients in urgent need of surgery. For many of the chronically ill who have applied for aid from the Chief Minister's relief fund, the EC's decision has come as a deliverance.Citing the model code of conduct, the EC in an order on January 7 directed the state governments to desist from providing financial aid to needy patients through the Chief Minister's relief fund. Though the EC was successful in preventing political parties from gaining undue advantage by using government funds, the order had made life difficult for a number of patients for whom the scheme is the only ray of hope.One such patient, Kusum Shinde (47), suffers from a faulty heart valve which forced her to quit her job as a domestic help. She is unable to even walk a few steps without feeling giddy and has been advised to undergo a mitral valve replacement operation as soon as possible. ``The doctor at KEM hospital has asked us to arrange for Rs 61,000 so that the operation can be done in February,'' said Kusum's brother-in-law A M Ubale. For the past three months, Kusum has been attended to only in the out-patients' department of the hospital. She has not been prescribed any medicine as surgery is her only cure.The Shindes had applied for aid from the relief fund last December hoping to avail of the money needed to cover surgery expenses. They say they will not be able to raise more than Rs 20,000 for the operation. They also cannot mortgage their flat because the flat owners' society has not yet been formed. ``I can only ask the Lord to have mercy on us, '' said Kusum. For now, the EC has answered her prayers. However, the fate of many other patients, who have to undergo treatment for months together but have no means to pay for it, still hangs in balance. One patient remarked, ``Elections are bound to come once in a while, but once a person dies, he is gone for ever''. ChiefElectoral Officer Dr D K Sankaran agrees. ``The EC is not inhuman. The ban on the use of the relief fund has been relaxed,'' he said.
