A few of those wounded in the incident are on regular medication while others are still struggling to overcome the trauma six years after the Maoists ambushed a passenger bus killing 38 persons and injuring 72. [break]
The Maoists had targeted the bus to kill 12 army men traveling as passengers and succeeded in killing three of them. The incident remains the biggest incident in terms of civilian casualty during the decade-long Maoist insurgency.
“Six years have gone by but my wife still has to take medicines daily. I don´t know how long the treatment will continue,” said Krishna Acharya of Kirtanpur, Kalyanpur whose wife Nara Maya was a passenger on the ill-fated bus. The Acharyas have been forced to shift to Bharatpur for treatment.
Krishna was supporting his family by running a small grocery store in Kirtanpur Bazaar and his wife was traveling to borrow Rs 15,000 from Chhimeki Development Bank. The bus was blown apart just around a mile away after she boarded it in Kirtanpur. She had bruises on the back of her head and right thigh while her face was swollen.
The physical wounds healed after a few days of treatment at Bharatpur Hospital but she could not get over the incident mentally. She showed mental problems after returning home. She was then treated for around a year at Chitwan Medical College but she still has to be taken to the doctor every week. “The medicines alone cost Rs 900 every month while the expenses go over Rs 5,000 when she has attacks,” Krishna said.
Psychiatrist at the hospital Dr Mahendra Raj Neupane said she is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The family moved to Bharatpur also because Dr Neupane advised that she would feel better if she could get over the memory of the gory incident. The Acharyas have left their 15 kattha of land in Kirtanpur to another victim Jib Nath Tiwari, who had lost his wife that fateful day.
The Maoists gave Krishna a job at the BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital in Bharatpur after coming to power but Krishna has incurred a debt of around Rs 450,000 the for treatment of his wife. They have also not received the latest government relief package as she was discharged from Chitwan Medical College after a year of treatment.
Vice-president of the Badharmudhe Victims Committee Krishna Adhikari claimed six other persons are still on medication like Nara Maya. Medicines help but the wounded and the families of dead feel the long-promised personal apology from Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal in Madi may do better.
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