From jaws of death: Minati Shabar with her daughter: at Lagadori village and outside SSKM on Monday. Pictures by Amit Datta and Rash Behari Das

Calcutta, June 5: When little Shibani Shabar arrived in Calcutta two months ago, her shrunken body weighed just 6 kg and she was dying as much from starvation as from tuberculosis.

Today, she came out of SSKM Hospital on mother Minati’s arms, looking bright and smiling at the people around her. Her weight has doubled and she is fully cured.

It will be a few more years, though, before the two-year-old from Belpahari will learn how, left in the lurch by the politicians, she was pulled back from the brink of death by ordinary Calcu-ttans. The city ? from the student to the jobless young man ? had chipped in for her treatment that cost more than Rs 1 lakh.

“She has got a new life. And for this, everyone, from the donors to the NGO who brought the child here from a remote village in West Midnapore, must be given credit,” said hospital superintendent Shantanu Tripathi, who supervised her treatment by a team of 12 doctors.

Shibani’s story had come to light a few days before the Assembly polls when The Telegraph reported how she was dying without food and treatment at Lagadori village, 215 km from Calcutta.

Even at election time, the politicians had stayed away from the village of Shabar tribals who virtually starve most days and have to walk 8 km for a pot of water.

Help reached the village the day after the report came out, with members of Diganta, an NGO, bringing Shibani to Calcutta and getting her admitted to hospital.

“We were shocked when we saw her. We realised she wouldn’t survive much longer if she stayed in the village,” said NGO activist Utpal Roy.

“After the report came out, many people came forward to help. A group of income-tax officials from a Middleton Row office gave Rs 55,000.”

“Had the girl reached here a week later, saving her could have been next to impossible,” Tripathi said.

“She was suffering from tuberculosis, malnutrition, septicaemia and bacterial infection.”

There was a scare in the middle of treatment when the baby’s condition suddenly worsened.

“This was because she needed at least 15 more vials of a life-saving antibiotic. Each vial of the injection costs Rs 2,250, which was more than we could afford,” Roy said.

Calcuttans again came forward.

“Two students from a Salt Lake school came to me and handed over some money. Another woman, who requested me not to reveal her name, gave Rs 15,000,” Tripathi said.

“I was surprised when a youth in his late 20s, who had lost his job three months earlier, came to my office and donated money for the medicine.”

The superintendent has called up the block development officer and the health officer at Belpahari and asked them to take care of the follow-up treatment. “She just needs a few more medicines and a perfect diet. We have handed them the diet chart. I requested the health workers in Belpahari to see that the child gets her medicines every day,” Tripathi said.

The NGO will deposit some money with the local post office in Minati’s name so that she can continue to get the prescribed food for her daughter.