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Oct 15 2015 : Mirror (Mumbai)His law of compassionNazia Sayed TWEETS
@sayednaazMIRRORLawyer Leslie Pereira helps patients who are abandoned in the
city's hospitals by their families
Leslie Pereira has spent much of his life in the compounds of government-run
hospi tals, looking for patients who have been abandoned by their families. The
lawyer has, until now, rehabilitated hundreds of destitute commercial sex
workers, HIV patients and elderly people. Even today, one can find him in JJ
hospital, helping those unfamiliar with the hospital, guiding them towards
operation theatres, emergency wards, sometimes even police stations to file a
criminal case. Goa-born Pereira decided to fight for such people after he
himself was refused help by hospital authorities when he was in dire need of it.
“I know what it feels like to be abandoned, to be lonely. I am an orphan myself
and had lived years of my childhood on the streets before I was adopted. Even
after being adopted, though, I never got the love and attention I longed for,“
says Pereira. He adds that he was never given proper food or clothing and used
to eat well only when he visited a friend's house. “I grew up being at the
mercy of others, which is why I decided to work for people who felt a pain
similar to mine. “I know I can't take care of all the people in this world, but
I feel that even if I make one person smile, my goal for that day stands
achieved.“
Two years ago, a seven-year-old girl from Karnataka had lost both her parents
to HIV, and was admitted to and abandoned by her grandmother in JJ hospital.
She had been thrown out of her village because she was HIV-positive.Pereira
adopted her, cleared her bills, and later assured her shelter by helping get
her lodged in a care centre. A two-year-old girl, who was raped and thrown out
in the bushes near the Sewri railway station, was also taken by Pereira to the
rescue home Asha Sadan, from where she was adopted by a couple, and with whom
she is now living a happy life.
Eunuchs who are left alone at the hospital and denied admission also look to
Pereira for help.“There used to be no one to take care of them at the hospital.
I have spent lots of nights in the hospital, talking to them and attending to
them. They are also humans and require care and love.Is that too much to ask
for?“ asks Pereira. The Samaritan has made tending to the neglected a habit of
sorts.
A woman from Chennai had come to Mumbai to apply for a visa that would help her
fly to the Gulf. In the city, she suffered a paralytic stroke and was admitted
to JJ hospital. During her stay there, she was raped by the ward boy in a
toilet. As the hospital authorities tried to hush up the matter, her attendant
Jamila Begum brought the matter to Pereira's notice. He later got an FIR
registered and ensured the arrest of the rapist. The victim's bills were taken
care of and her treatment continued for another nine months. Pereira still
practices at the Bombay High Court. He is well known for pursuing Public
Interest Litigation cases against various issues for the past 18 years. He
exposed the scam of dead bodies going missing from the morgue of a famous
government-run hospital. The corpses, it turned out, were being sold to certain
medical colleges for anatomy lessons. A case was later filed at the High Court.
Pereira also uncovered the racket of clinical trials being conducted on poor
patients by the hospital authorities of a big hospital without their consent
and knowledge. Today, conducting such trials on patients without their
permission, is illegal.
“My aim,“ says Pereira, “is to serve humanity, irrespective of caste, colour
and creed and to work for the betterment of society by being generous. I wish
to help the needy and give back to the universe what the universe has given me
-a life.“
