NEW DELHI, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- In a rare case of its kind in India, a 21-year-old woman, suffering from blood cancer for nine years, has moved a court in the northern city of Kanpur with a plea for her right to die because she could not afford the costs for treatment.
Alka Tiwari has been battling Aplastic Anemia, a form of blood cancer, since she was 12. The only treatment for her condition is bone marrow transplant which costs around 2 million rupees (40, 000 U.S. dollars). She has written to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for help, but hasn't got any reply yet.
Now, Alka Tiwari has moved a court in Kanpur saying that if the government refuses to pay for her treatment then she should be allowed euthanasia, local TV channel NDTV reported on Monday.
The family funds have run out, after her brother Brij Bihari sold off the family land and his mother's jewellery to raise money for Tiwari's treatment. He also sold stationary to pay for her weekly transfusions, but could not afford the bone marrow transplant.
"We have filed a plea in court asking the government to save my daughter's life. And if they cant help us, then at least accept her euthanasia plea," Alka's mother, Surajmukhi, was quoted as saying.
However, there seems to be a ray of hope for Tiwari after an Indian Parliamentarian, Ganga Charan, has donated 2 million rupees for her bone marrow transplant, the report said.
