Lucknow: A woman had been missing in Uttar Pradesh for over three weeks.
The good news is that she has been ‘reunited’ with her husband — in a hospital.
But, unfortunately, the woman can’t recognise her husband due to memory loss from a severe head injury.
The 50-year-old Rakesh Kumar underwent cataract surgery in a hospital ward in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao. Shifted to his bed after the operation, he heard a familiar voice asking for water. Lo and behold, it was his missing wife, Shanti Devi.
Overcome with emotion, Rakesh’s joy soon turned into deep disappointment as he realised that she couldn’t place him.
Since Shanta Devi mysteriously disappeared on January 13, Rakesh searched for his wife everywhere he could think of, even visiting Kanpur, Lucknow and Kannauj.
Unable to trace her, Rakesh, a welder by profession, filed a missing person’s report on January 16.
Rakesh’s friend Rajol Shukla, a vehicle stand operator at Unnao District Hospital, noticed the former’s worsening condition and advised him to seek medical help for his eyesight.
Rakesh consulted doctors at Unnao District Hospital and was diagnosed with cataract, and advised immediate surgery.
As his bandages were removed post surgery, Rakesh was overjoyed to find his wife lying in the adjacent bed, but with no memory about herself and anything else.
According to Dr Kaushalendra Pratap, Shanta was being treated for a head injury which she couldn’t recall.
Rather than getting demoralised, Rakesh and the doctors treated and handled Shanta with great care. Her condition has improved, and she is gradually regaining memory.
Doctors expect her to improve further once she goes back to familiar conditions of her home.
