Anonymous good samaritan saves lives of 10 kids

Four families from Mumbai and six from other parts of India have a big reason to smile and an unknown good Samaritan to thank for it.

Earlier, the common thread that bound these families was the fact that a kid from each suffered from congenital heart disease and that they couldn't afford the required medical treatment. Now another thing that binds them is that they were all helped by a 63-year-old anonymous man, who donated Rs17.20 lakh to the Fortis hospital to take care of children suffering from heart ailments.

Five of the children have already been operated upon while the rest will undergo the life-saving procedure next week. The admitted children are between 1 month and 12 years of age.

In Mumbai, several paediatric heart surgeries are performed on a regular basis but the cost varies from case to case. One in every 100 newborns has a heart defect, including holes in the heart, obstructed blood flow due to narrowing of vessels, incorrectly positioned blood vessels going to and fro from heart, abnormality of heart valves or a combination of these defects.

Satara-based four-month-old Om Gaikwad had holes in his heart. He often suffered from fever and cough. When his condition failed to improve, the local doctor advised the family to approach a cardiologist. Finally, after two months of his birth, the defect was diagnosed. The family was also told that the cost of surgery would run in lakhs.

"Once the problem was diagnosed, they came to my house and we took Om to Fortis hospital. We were told a surgery would cost Rs1.8 lakh. Om's father is a farmer. They ran from pillar to post to arrange for funds. Suddenly one day, the hospital authorities said we needed to pay only Rs20,000. It was a great relief for us. My nephew underwent the surgery on Monday. We are so grateful to the donor who paid for the surgery," said Dinesh Gole, Om's maternal uncle.

In a similar case, nine-month-old Samarth Jadhav's heart defect came to light six months ago. The family tried everything to arrange for the needed funds but were unable to do so. After knocking on the doors of several doctors, they came to know that they might get some concession at the Fortis hospital.

"The hospital decided to bear the expenses, bringing a ray of hope for us. Samarth is the first child of my brother. We were very tensed and worried but everything went ahead smoothly. The surgery was conducted on Monday," said Ram Gaikwad, cousin of Samarth's father.

Vijay Agarwal, head of the paediatric cardiac surgery at Fortis Hospital in Mulund, said, "There are several centres where paediatric cardiac surgery is performed. The only issue is that many poor parents are not able to meet the expenses. Thankfully, some great people generously donate for such causes."

Dr Swati Garekar, the paediatric cardiologist at Fortis, said, "Thanks to the support of a generous Mumbaikar, we were able to offer treatment to the needy children. Mumbai has a large heart."

In India in a year, not more than 15,000 newborns suffering from heart ailments get medical attention. In fact at Sion Hospital, the doctors simply refuse to operate on a child weighing below 6kg.