BANTRA  ST. THOMAS' HOME  WELFARE   SOCIETY

( Under Dioceses of Kolkata - Church of North India )

Regd. No. SO170904       W.B. Act XXVI of 1961

158, Belilious Road, Bantra, Howrah, 711 101

Howrah TB 033 2643 5217     Howrah TB 08420294507
Howrah TB
Bantra St. Thomas' Home Welfare Society

Success Stories

Howrah TB

Case Study

Anima Shau 22 years old residing at 33/1, Ashu Bose Lane Howrah-711101 near Rebecca Charitable Society. She was the youngest one and had two elder brothers. One brother married and had two kids. Including her mother seven members in the family lived in a single rented room for more than fifty years. She couldn't continue her study after class XII due to health issue and financial constraints.

Howrah TB

Howrah TB
Anima carefully administering medicines to the TB patients in the Pilkhana DOT centre.

In the beginning of the year 2021 she had a great health issue and often felt persistent pain in her abdomen and consulted with local doctors and took painkillers and this episode continued for couple of months during the Corona situation. Then one day she couldn't bear the severe pain and was admitted in Howrah Hospital for further treatment. After one week of admission and subsequent examination she was diagnosed as tuberculosis positive in the abdomen and immediately started medicines. She returned to her own house and continued the treatment for one week. Since it was a pandemic situation and had restrictions, regular medical supervision and support were not possible, so her younger brother took the bold step and decided to contact the OPD of BSTHWS. She was admitted to the indoor department on 29th September 2021. She remembered and shared from her memories that from the beginning in BSTHWS the care and dealings were very good and couldn't realize the seven months treatment was a too long period of time and passed quickly.

While she was sharing it was noticed from her facial gesture about the satisfaction level and gratitude for support that she received to overcome her challenges. As an example, shared that making friendships with other inmates was an excellent time which had been continued regularly with Laxmi Devi and Priya.

She stated it was life changing experience as there were lots of exposures, she received to empower a woman i.e.,  

  • Tailoring training was a great endeavor for her to take initiatives and make her own suit and salwar sets and also made for her nieces. She thought it was great to have such skills and she might start a small self-employment unit with her sister in-law with a small amount of investment.
  • Reiterating her sweet memory, she mentioned how she enjoyed and learnt the Bengali language which was actually dream for her.
  • She received a Kannyasree grant and wished to continue her study through distance learning education and looking forward to better job options. Last May she joined St. Thomas' Home Welfare Society as a DOT provider in Pilkhana DOT center.

Every six months interval she followed the routine health check-up along with other family members at BSTHWS. It was amazing to see her confidence level and shared a very positive statement in Hindi that …. "Bimar se Haar Nehi manta, Laro yea Bimari Se."

We have lots of good wishes for Anima's bright future.

Case Study

Ranjana Bera held from 229/3 Belilious Road, near Vikram Valika Vidyalaya, Howrah-101. She was 35 years staying with her own mother's house along with her two younger brothers who were married. Her elder sister got married at Chatterjee Para. As a DOT provider joined last May 2023 in TikiaPara DOT center.

Howrah TB

Howrah TB
Ranjana is on full swing of providing services to TB patients from all ages in Tikia Para DOT center.

Ranjana had very much unpleasant experience emotionally broken hearted while she stated that the onset of tuberculosis disease in her life was very shocking and devastating. During the initial stage she couldn't understand the complication and day by day she lost her weight and ultimately, she became crippled and had only 16 kg. Her husband and in-laws were totally indifferent and her brothers rescued and admitted her to the ICCU of Nilratan Sarkar Hospital in 2019. 

Her husband never turned up and took inhuman decisions and threw her out because of TB and didn't keep any relationships. She had one son aged 9 years and stayed at her in-law's house. Under these circumstances she was admitted for one month in NRS hospital and slowly gained strength and recovered to some extent. She was released from Nilratan Hospital and referred to BSTHWS.

In BSTHWS she was admitted in the indoor department and referred to Lords Nursing Home for further treatment and medical investigations. After one month returned to BSTHWS and completed treatment for eight months in the midst of a pandemic situation. Again, she got a lymph node and Doctor from BSTHWS referred her to Ekbalpore nursing home for operation and discharged her after one week. Six months she continued medicines and Secretary Mrs. Monika Naik of BSTHWS regularly counselled and boosted her morally to overcome the crisis situation as her husband left and destroyed all important documents. She was very much keen to learn the basic skills of nursing and practically she used to help patients in pushing injection, dressing and other allied nursing activities and slowly learnt the basic nursing skills. She thought to complete her study might be a good Idea and contacted to her school Vikram Valika and requested the head mistress for provisional documents.  She expressed during conversation that she was ready to continue studying for joining professional training course on nursing.

She was also confident enough and proud that she received tailoring training and as a second option to start a self-employment unit on tailoring at her home. Above all it was a dream for her to continue her study and establish herself. She was very much grateful to BSTHWS and told ……." It is a new life experience and this is really home that helped me and contentiously encourage to think positively and stand on my feet". 

Ranjana, we are very proud of you and wish you all the best in life.

Case Study

Howrah TB

Howrah TB

Nitisha Siddique 22 years residing at 96 Belilious Rd. Howrah-711101 near Bantra St. Thomas' Home Welfare Society. She was second girl and took responsibility of household work after married of her elder sister. Her younger sister was studying in class VIII. Mother was involved in a crèche and father looked after a business of small pan shop. It was a nightmare for her while shared past experiences which began in December 2017. She had fever and persistently continued for a month, in spite of having medicine from the local quack doctor. Finally admitted to Howrah Hospital. The medical report revealed she had typhoid and treatment continued for one month. After discharge from the hospital and within a month her complication started of weekness,fever less appetite coughing and contacted in OPD of BSTHWS. On the same day it was detected Pulmonary tuberculosis and after one week treatment the fever returned and mobility was slowly restricted along with other complication of body shaking. Seeing the critical condition, her parents puzzled and without consulting BSTHWS immediately admitted her in a local nursing home. After five days she was discharged but the problem aggravated and remained two days at home and lost her sense and parents ultimately brought her to BSTHWS. Parents lost hope of her survival. She was admitted in indoor and initially totally confined in bed for two months. She was fed with food pipe and used catheter and her mother was with her and slowly regained physical strength. During this period, she lost all her feelings and no capacity of remember what was actually happened. After this time, she started recovering and began to recognize and with support began to seat on wheel chair. For improvement of her brain referred to P.G. hospital in July 2018 and neurological medicines charged after MRI test. After two weeks she returned to BSTHWS in August 2018. The treatment was continued till 4th December 2018 along with provision of regular physiotherapy, mobility with support, counselling and vocational trainings. She had developed positive personality after having prolonged treatment and expressed positive message and boldly confessed "I got new life because of service of indoor department especially papa Dr. Tobias Vogt is great". She remembered those nostalgic days of regular routine activities with other patients and said "It was very good environment and life changing experience received and missing those days". It was critical case as the tuberculosis attacked her brain.

She passed class X and BSTHWS sent her name for the selection of TB Champion programme. In first phase for one day, she went to District Tuberculosis Office for selection. Further she was referred to State level and her challenging life presentation was quite convincing and selected as Tuberculosis Champion in March 2022. She was keen for a job and suddenly got chance of DOT provider at Tikiapara DOT center. In fact, her determination and commitment level manifest in the way she interacts with new TB patients and guide them to complete the medical treatment. As a state Champion went to attend "State Level Capacity Building Workshops for TB Champions" Sealdha 24-26 March 2023 for 3 days programme. Her strong conviction to aware people about tuberculosis so that others might not suffer like her. We are proud of you Nitisha and lots of good wishes for your bright future.

Case Study

Kiran Fatma 19 years old residing at Shibpur, Howrah-711102 near Shreejain Hospital. She had two elder brothers and 4 sisters and stayed with father and mother in a single room rented house. When she was 15 years old and suddenly, she had pain in back side below the neck and the lowest vertebra (D12). She went to Charitable clinic of Howrah South Point in Foreshore Road then referred to BSTHWS on 8th April 2021.

Howrah TB

Howrah TB
Kiran was on wheel chair for one year and slowly gained confidence and improved her mobility after regular practice with the support of nurses at indoor hospital.

She suffered from a tuberculosis of her dorsal vertebra number 6. As a result, her mobility got restricted due to destruction of six number vertebra of her dorsal spine and damage of the nerves, both her legs were paralyzed. She totally dependent upon wheel chair for one year. She lost blooder control and passed urine and stool on the bed. She had three operations of her spine and in free of cost in the month of April, July and October 2021. Pus and bone pieces were removed from her spine and the spinal cord had been relaxed, but paresis of her legs didn’t improve. The doctors of BSTHWS didn’t believe any more that Kiran would be able to move her legs again. After six month her third operation held on 11 October 2021 in Park Clinic, Kolkata and back to St. Thomas’ Home. She started to move her legs and initiated walk with support of wall and helper. Her improvement was very slow and stayed another year in indoor hospital of BSTHWS and continued her medication, physiotherapy and proper care. She returned to own home on 2nd August 2022 when her mobility was improved but continued her tuberculosis medicines till January 2023. Because of Corona virus the doctors were not available and operation were delayed and spent about Rs. 1,50.000/-. It took one month to find out surgeon and hospital. During her prolonged treatment in indoor department of BSTHWS she received vocational training on tailoring, literacy classes on Hindi language and atmosphere of developing social skills through interaction with other patients as well as regular outing exposers.

She missed her regular school education after class IV and very strongly feel tzo study further as her younger sister was promoted in higher classes. She was desperate to continue her study privately and simultaneously to join professionally tailoring courses and planned to earn independently. She told during the conversation she was physically fit and shared her thoughts that "Hum abhi agey bare aur parai kare". Now I will go ahead and study. Her passions to prove her abilities and wished to contribute as a responsible citizen of country. Senior staff of BSTHWS regularly keep contact with her and guardians and support towards her self-reliance. We hope all the best for her great success in her future.