UPSC Aspirant with Rare Bone Disorder Appears for Exam with Oxygen Cylinder

Guwahati, June 3, 2019:

24-year-old Latheesha Ansari is one of the scores of UPSC aspirants in the country hoping to crack the coveted civil service exams, but her life is even more difficult than your average UPSC candidate. Why, you might ask? Well, it is because this feisty and resolute Keralite suffers from a rare bone disorder. Not only that, she also has a respiratory condition which requires external oxygen support.

But, her condition has not deterred the 24-year-old Kottayam-resident from setting her eyes on the highly coveted civil services. On Sunday, she appeared for the Preliminary Civil Services examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission here, on a wheelchair and an oxygen cylinder beside her with a 'gung-ho' attitude and was all smiles for the camera persons.

Latheesha was diagnosed with ‘type II Osteogenesis Imperfecta’, otherwise known as the 'brittle bone' disease since birth, also suffers from pulmonary hypertension since over a year and needs an oxygen cylinder always beside her. But she did not let my condition get in the way of her education and has completed her MCom degree.

Due to her physical problems, the short-statured IAS aspirant had to be carried to school by her father due to her condition, but thanks to the intervention of Kottayam District Collector P R Sudheer Babu, a portable oxygen concentrator was provided to her inside the examination hall which enabled her to take part in the exam.

A portable equipment would be provided to her free of cost for which tender process had been completed, the collector has told media persons.Her parents had travelled to the examination hall with an oxygen cylinder.

An extremely optimistic Latheesha told the media that she had been preparing for the examination since the past one and half years and hoped that her efforts would bear fruit.

The examination, conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), was held in 72 cities across India on Sunday, June 2.

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