

Dehradun: Born and brought up in a remote Rudraprayag village, Hemlata Behan had lived the life of a hill girl and knew its pitfalls -- poor education system and sparse health facilities. Later, she took upon herself to help likes of her.

Now, for the past 16 years, Hemlata is working for the girls who are poor and suffering from Tuberculosis (TB).

She works primarily to ensure that patients, especially young girls comply with their medicine schedule (non-compliance is a major cause of patients developing drug-resistant TB which is difficult to cure). Hemlata also uses her own resources to provide patients with nutritious food which is essential to combat the disease.

Due to her intervention, hundreds of patients across the state have been able to successfully counter the disease and reclaim their lives.

Tannu Kumari, 12, was a TB patient. Residing in a remote area of Rishikesh, she had lost hope of treatment due to poor financial condition of her family. Youngest among four sisters, her father was jobless and drunkard.

She thanks the day when Hemlata visited her home. After an eight-month treatment course, Tannu is now fit and taking training for professional dancing.

“We were poor, and there was no way that my parents could have got me treated. If I am fit, it is because of Hemlata Behan. Had she not forced me to take regular medicine and nutritious diet for eight months, starting June 2017, I would have never recovered,” she said.

Hemlata, now 52, told TOI: “It was in 2002 when I realised that I should do something to check TB among girl child. Completing the entire medicine course is very important for a TB patient and even a lapse of one day may make the patient start the entire process again. So I started taking possible TB patients to health centres, got them diagnosed and thereafter ensured that they received the medicines on time.”

However, it did not take long for her to realise that in addition to medicine, nutritious food was also mandatory for the girls, who came from financially weak background.

“So, with the help of my team we started collecting funds to give one good diet to each patient per day,” she said.

In 2013, Hemlata prepared a diet plan for the patients. As per the diet chart, the girls are given juice on Monday, soup on Tuesday, fruit chat on Wednesday, paneer on Thursday, milk cornflake on Friday, chana/soya bean on Saturday and milk along with egg on Sunday.

In addition, a kg of soya bean is also given to the girls. While, she started with the first batch of six patients in 2013, she has helped over a dozen groups of patients in the last five years. Over 100 girl child have benefitted from the help provided by the facilities provided by her.

“I cannot say how it started, and what the motivation was. But, yes, I always felt that often the girls, especially in the financially weaker sections, are ignored. With the experience I gathered over the years, I thought that with my little resources, I can do a lot of things for these girls,” said Hemlata.

Recently, her efforts paid off as she was felicitated by chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat during the Devbhoomi Dialogue function.

Lauding her efforts, Rawat said: “She has done a commendable job and dedicated so many years of her life for this cause. Hemlata is an inspiration for all of us. We are determined to eradicate TB from the state in the next few years and accept more support from Hemlata and her team.”