PGI opens its heart to Pak children

CHANDIGARH: In a rare honour for Chandigarh, PGI is preparing to welcome its first batch of Pakistani patients who are tipped to undergo corrective heart surgery here. Aged between four and five years, the patients, who are natives of Pakistan’s Sindh province, are expected to arrive in India via Wagah border on January 27.
Being brought here under the ‘Gifts of Life’ project of the Rotary International Foundation, the children would be directly admitted to PGI upon their arrival here.A group of volunteers from Rotary Club of Chandigarh Midtown would be travelling to Wagah to receive the children when they reach the border.
Rotary Club is bearing the entire cost of their surgery and postoperative care, including the cost of medicines. The children would be admitted under the department of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery at PGI.
Speaking to The Times of India, Rotary district governor Kawal Bedi said, "Through the ‘Gifts of Life’ project, which was initiated in 1999, we aim at providing free cardiac surgery to the children from economically-weaker sections of the society.
Five children from Pakistan, aged between four and five years, would be undergoing open-heart surgery at PGI. Our volunteers would be going to Wagah to receive them. The tentative date of their arrival is January 27. We are extremely grateful to PGI for being with us in making this possible."
The children would be accompanied by Dr Mohammad Ayyub from Pakistan. "The process had been initiated long back and we have had detailed discussions with the PGI director and other senior professors, including Dr Dhaliwal. Rotary Club in Pakistan had constituted a committee to make sure that we did no go wrong in selecting the deserving children. Dr Ayyub was coordinating in Pakistan. The Indian High Commission in Islamabad has been approached for issuing visas to the children. We have earlier helped children from Uganda and Ghana under the project," observed Bedi.
The committee in Pakistan studied the economic and social background of the children, besides analysing their health condition before their names were recommended for surgery at PGI.
Throwing light on the finances, she said that the surgery and treatment cost per child works up to around Rs 1 lakh. "This project is collaborative venture between Rotary Clubs in different countries and the total project cost is $1 lakh.
Of this, $12,000 have come from our clubs in Germany, $13,000 from Japan, $13,000 from the Rotary Chandigarh Midtown’s governor’s fund and $12,000 through our personal initiative. The remaining amount of $50,000 came directly from Rotary International Foundation. The children would undergo open heart surgery," said Bedi.