Player runs around with sick daughter

Kolkata, June 9: With most city hospitals busy in treating Covid-19 patients, Kolkata-based Liberian footballer Ansumana Kromah and his wife had to run from pillar to post to admit their sick new-born daughter in a medical facility here.

Their week-old daughter, Bindu, is better now and is under observation at a Park Street Hospital, Kromah’s wife Pooja said.

Kromah, who led Peerless SC to a historic Calcutta Football League Premier Division title last year, became a father on Wednesday morning but his new-born daughter developed jaundice symptoms on Saturday.

The duo took Bindu to the Shambazar nursing home where she was born but they refused to admit her on Sunday morning, citing non availability of beds.

They then knocked on the doors of two multispeciality private hospitals before the child was admitted at a different facility late on Sunday night after police’s intervention.

“I was totally devastated. She’s our first child and the experience we went through in the middle of the night was like a nightmare. We moved around carrying my sick child in the middle of the night from one hospital to another but nobody came to our aid,” Kromah recalled.

“It’s very difficult for us now because of this Coronavirus thing. I went to three different hospitals with my daughter and one of them made us sit for three hours before denying admission,” Kromah said.

On Monday morning, the condition of Kromah’s daughter had deteriorated. The child was in urgent need for blood transfusion but her blood group was a rare AB positive.

“But doctors said there’s no need for blood transfusion now. Bilirubin count is low. They want to keep her under observation for a couple of days and then they will decide. She’s a bit better now,” Kromah’s wife Pooja said. —

I was totally devastated. The experience was a nightmare. We moved around carrying my sick child in the middle of the night from one hospital to another but nobody came to our aid. — ANSUMANA

KROMAH, Kolkata-based Liberian footballer, on the difficulty in getting his new-born daughter treated for jaundice