2-month-old heart patient from Pakistan finds hope in India

[Vehl]

Humanity knows no boundaries, the old adage came true as parents of a two-month-old Pakistani boy suffering from a serious heart defect, finally found hope in an offer of help by a leading Indian hospital after running from pillar to post.

The parents, who want to immediately rush to New Delhi for the surgery of two-month old Ahmad, have now appealed to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad to issue them visas at the earliest.After the case of Ahmad was highlighted by the Dawn newspaper earlier this month, Ashok Seth, chairman of the cardiology council of India's Fortis Group of Hospitals, expressed the institution's desire to treat the boy irrespective of whether his parents could afford the treatment.

Ahmad, the son of a poor man named Saleem Shahzad of Lahore, is suffering from "ventricular septal defect, arterial septal defect and transposition of great arteries TGA, which means blood vessels that should be on the right side are on the left side and vice versa.

more here
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_2-month-old-heart-patient-from-pakistan-finds-hope-in-india_1593092


I'm happy for the family. I hope lil Ahmed's surgery will be a success:)

Disregarding the animosity between the two governments, a large number of people from Pakistan go to India for treatment which is not available in Pakistan.

Private hospitals in India are required by law to provide free/discounted service for 25-30% of their patients, especially those who cannot afford the expenses.

A related story

After 17 years, Iraqi youth walks
TNN Sep 27, 2011, 02.52am IST

BANGALORE: It took just one bullet to change the life of 19-year-old Iraqi national, Bavel Fatih Mohammed, on the night of August 17, 1995, when he was barely two years old.Bavel snuggled up to his mother Roshna and was fast asleep on the terrace of his house in As-Sulaymaniyah town when a bullet fired in air to mark the death of a local politician around dawn hit him on the left side of his brain.

The next 17 years were an ordeal for Bavel. He was diagnosed with a disorder called Secondary Dystonia (caused by apparent outside factor resulting in abnormal muscle contractions). While doctors in many countries threw up their hands, it was Bangalore doctors who brought back his smile. He underwent Deep brain stimulation surgery recently and has now recovered. Bavel came to Bangalore in August this year and will return home in about 10 days.

more here
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-09-27/bangalore/30208083_1_deep-brain-stimulation-injury-bullet

Here is a interesting and thought provoking article about doctors and medical institutions who are fast making expensive treatments available to the masses, especially the poor

BANGALORE -- Hair tucked into a surgical cap, eyes hidden behind thick-framed magnifying glasses, Devi Shetty leans over the sawed open chest of an 11-year-old boy, using bright blue thread to sew an artificial aorta onto his stopped heart

Dr. Shetty, who entered the limelight in the early 1990s as Mother Teresa's cardiac surgeon, offers cutting-edge medical care in India at a fraction of what it costs elsewhere in the world. His flagship heart hospital charges $2,000, on average, for open-heart surgery, compared with hospitals in the U.S. that are paid between $20,000 and $100,000, depending on the complexity of the surgery.

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At his flagship, 1,000-bed Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital, surgeons operate at a capacity virtually unheard of in the U.S., where the average hospital has 160 beds, according to the American Hospital Association.Narayana's 42 cardiac surgeons performed 3,174 cardiac bypass surgeries in 2008, more than double the 1,367 the Cleveland Clinic, a U.S. leader, did in the same year. His surgeons operated on 2,777 pediatric patients, more than double the 1,026 surgeries performed at Children's Hospital Boston.

more here
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125875892887958111.html#articleTabs=article

This health insurance plan sounds great, for the less well off segments of the public

Mr. Parashivappa says he can't himself pay for the surgery, but it is covered by a farmers' insurance plan that Dr. Shetty began several years ago in partnership with the state of Karnataka, which includes Bangalore.

Nearly one third of the hospital's patients are enrolled in this insurance plan, which costs $3 a year per person and reimburses the hospital $1,200 for each cardiac surgery.

That is about $300 below the hospital's break-even cost of $1,500 per surgery.The hospital makes up the difference by charging $2,400 to the 40% of its patients in the general ward who aren't enrolled in the plan. An additional 30% who opt for private or semi-private rooms pay as much as $5,000.

And apparently not at the cost of the patient's health either

Dr. Shetty's success rates appear to be as good as those of many hospitals abroad. Narayana Hrudayalaya reports a 1.4% mortality rate within 30 days of coronary artery bypass graft surgery, one of the most common procedures, compared with an average of 1.9% in the U.S. in 2008, according to data gathered by the Chicago-based Society of Thoracic Surgeons.