<p class="title rtejustify">"Why are we being ostracised? What wrong did we do?" asked a sobbing Sindhu, whose husband Rajan succumbed to the deadly Nipah virus a few days ago.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">So far, the virus has claimed 11 lives in Kerala's Kozhikode and Malappuram districts.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Gradually coming to terms with their huge loss, the family, living in extreme poverty, claimed that health department officials left a plastic bag containing masks and gloves outside their dilapidated house at Kurachundu Vadachira.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">"They did not even bother to come to our house to give it," Sindhu said.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Rajan is survived by his wife, two young daughters-- Sandra and Swathi -- and his mother Narayani.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">"The family is not in touch with the outside world. We are totally cut off. No one is coming to comfort us in our loss," another relative said.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Several Nipah affected families have complained of being isolated as people apparently the fear of contracting the rare virus.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Even staff at the Perambra Taluk hospital, where some patients were treated and a nurse Lini Puthussery died after contracting the virus on May 21, have complained of being marginalised.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">The staff have complained to Kozhikode district medical authorities that they are not being allowed to travel in buses and that auto-rickshaws refuse to take them to their workplace.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">"If we get into buses, people refuse to share seats... auto-rickshaws decline to take us," they said.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">There was an instance when passengers of a bus protested and got down after the nurses of the hospital boarded the vehicle.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Taking note, the Kerala State Human Rights Commission has sought a report from the district police chief and Kozhikode district medical officer on the "discrimination" being shown to the nurses and asked them to take steps to end it.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">There are also reports of electric crematorium staff refusing to perform the last rites of a Nipah affected person.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">However, Lini's husband, Sajeesh said health department officials were in touch with them on a daily basis.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Blood samples of 15 members of Lini's family were taken soon after her death and the results are awaited, he told PTI.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">"We have asked our relatives and neighbours not to come now. There are a lot of them here and we are being looked after," he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Sajeesh said his two children, aged 2 and 4 years, do enquire about their mother. They have not been told that she would never come back, he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Lini, who initially treated members of the Moosa family of Soopykada village, whose four members died of the virus, passed away after being infected by Nipah.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Sajeesh, who works in Bahrain, rushed to Kerala on hearing about her condition.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">He said though he had gone to the hospital ICU, he could not talk to her.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Lini's touching letter to her husband, shortly before her death, saying she was on her way out, went viral on social media.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Sajeesh said he cannot go back to Bahrain now as his two children needed him.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">The Kerala government has offered him a job and financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh each to the two children. </p>
<p class="title rtejustify">"Why are we being ostracised? What wrong did we do?" asked a sobbing Sindhu, whose husband Rajan succumbed to the deadly Nipah virus a few days ago.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">So far, the virus has claimed 11 lives in Kerala's Kozhikode and Malappuram districts.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Gradually coming to terms with their huge loss, the family, living in extreme poverty, claimed that health department officials left a plastic bag containing masks and gloves outside their dilapidated house at Kurachundu Vadachira.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">"They did not even bother to come to our house to give it," Sindhu said.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Rajan is survived by his wife, two young daughters-- Sandra and Swathi -- and his mother Narayani.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">"The family is not in touch with the outside world. We are totally cut off. No one is coming to comfort us in our loss," another relative said.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Several Nipah affected families have complained of being isolated as people apparently the fear of contracting the rare virus.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Even staff at the Perambra Taluk hospital, where some patients were treated and a nurse Lini Puthussery died after contracting the virus on May 21, have complained of being marginalised.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">The staff have complained to Kozhikode district medical authorities that they are not being allowed to travel in buses and that auto-rickshaws refuse to take them to their workplace.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">"If we get into buses, people refuse to share seats... auto-rickshaws decline to take us," they said.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">There was an instance when passengers of a bus protested and got down after the nurses of the hospital boarded the vehicle.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Taking note, the Kerala State Human Rights Commission has sought a report from the district police chief and Kozhikode district medical officer on the "discrimination" being shown to the nurses and asked them to take steps to end it.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">There are also reports of electric crematorium staff refusing to perform the last rites of a Nipah affected person.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">However, Lini's husband, Sajeesh said health department officials were in touch with them on a daily basis.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Blood samples of 15 members of Lini's family were taken soon after her death and the results are awaited, he told PTI.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">"We have asked our relatives and neighbours not to come now. There are a lot of them here and we are being looked after," he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Sajeesh said his two children, aged 2 and 4 years, do enquire about their mother. They have not been told that she would never come back, he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Lini, who initially treated members of the Moosa family of Soopykada village, whose four members died of the virus, passed away after being infected by Nipah.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Sajeesh, who works in Bahrain, rushed to Kerala on hearing about her condition.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">He said though he had gone to the hospital ICU, he could not talk to her.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Lini's touching letter to her husband, shortly before her death, saying she was on her way out, went viral on social media.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Sajeesh said he cannot go back to Bahrain now as his two children needed him.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">The Kerala government has offered him a job and financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh each to the two children. </p>