Good Samaritan donates goat milk for dengue patients in Prayagraj
PRAYAGRAJ : With the city witnessing increasing number of dengue cases and the common man’s belief that goat’s milk supposedly being effective in bringing up the blood platelet count, the owners of these animals have hiked prices of goat milk up to Rs 500 per litre in Sangam city.
However, the city also has some Good Samaritans like Sanjay Saran aka Guddu Bhai, a resident of Chatham Lines of Prayagraj, who is providing milk of his over half-a-dozen goats free of cost to around 50 to 70 persons every morning.
Prayagraj has so far recorded 891 dengue cases out of which 643 have been reported from urban pockets while the rest 248 are from rural areas.
Guddu used to run a tea-shop on the road leading to Iswar Saran Degree College but the pandemic forced him to close the shop and he is barely able to make two ends meet.
However, despite facing the challenge, he refrains from charging any money for the milk of his goats.
“Earlier, I used to have around 100 goats but now the numbers have come down to just seven but as all of these are yielding milk I thought of donating the same to the needy. Although, I don’t charge for it but there are some who do give some money out of their own free will which I keep to meet the expenses of fodder for my goats,” said 36-year-old Guddu.
Guddu has been doing this for the past two months now and as the dengue outbreak is getting worse in the city, more and more people are coming to his house.
“I give 100-150 ml of milk to 50-70 people every day as I also want the sick to get well anyhow,” he said.
However, medicos of the city do not endorse consuming goat milk for dengue patients.
“As far as the standard protocol or the practice goes, in terms of treating dengue patients, there is no scientific proof that goat’s milk has any benefits in increasing the platelet count. Moreover, we never recommend consuming milk without boiling it and people should refrain from doing the same,” said associate professor at MLN Medical College and eminent physician of the city, Dr Manoj Mathur.