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29 March 2024

UAE-based philanthropists to help kids with heart conditions in India

Published
By VM Sathish

A group of Indian philanthropists in the UAE have come together to finance heart surgeries of more than 100 poor children suffering heart ailments.

Suhrudaya - a child care heart programme, run by the Calicut-based non-profit charity trust, Helping Hands –  has already helped 90 new born babies suffering from congenial heart disease.

Dr Sajan Koshi, cardiac surgeon from India, who has conducted majority of these surgeries, says, eight out of 1,000 new born babies suffer from this kind of heart disease, which causes them to be born premature, too.
 
The group has treated children not only from India, but also countries like Oman and Africa. “Every year there 100,000 new cases reported from India. In the South Indian state of Kerala alone about 4,000 children are born with the heart condition. Many of them will die in a short period if corrective surgery is not conducted early,” he said.
 
K Kumar, President, Indian Community Welfare Committee, (ICWC) has volunteered to sponsor the heart operation of six children.
It costs between Rs200,000 and Rs350,000 to treat such ailments in India.
 
“There is a huge backlog of children awaiting heart surgeries in India because there are not enough hospitals or other infrastructure to meet the demands. Most of these children can die before their first birthday. The infant mortality rate in India is high and one of the reason is the congenial heart disease,” added Dr Hussain.
 
Sabha Joseph, K V Shamsudeen and two other Indian businessman has also offered to help a few children.
 
The most generous contribution came from Dr K P Hussain, Chairman and Managing Director of the Dubai based Fathima Healthcare Group who volunteered to sponsor the heart surgery of 50 Indian children, followed by Basheer Padiyathu, another Indian businessman who volunteered to arrange the heart surgery of 17 children.
 
Malabar Gold also promised to extend a helping hand to the project.
 
Dr Azad Mooppen, Chairman and Managing Director of DM Healthcare have been actively participating in the philanthropic mission to help poor heart patient children.
 
The non-profitable group has also tied up with hospitals to provide subsidized heart surgery to poor children.
 
In India, eighty per cent of the children (80000) who suffer from heart conditions go untreated, which amounts to 30 per cent of child death, according to Child Health Care. Fifty per cent of the children suffering from congenial disorders can be treated with medication and the remaining 50 per cent needs surgeries, which many poor families cannot afford.
 
Dr K P Hussain, who spearheads Dr K P Hussain Charitable Trust, was earlier involved in providing free dialysis units to help chronic kidney patients and often supported the cause of the downtrodden and poor patients.
 
Their mission is to eliminate child heart disease as the number one cause of death among infants worldwide.
 
While in the last twenty years, the group helped 94 children, but with the help of Dubai-based philanthropists, 101 poor children will get a chance to live normal lives.
 
The group started the charity drive after they came across a girl child, who was diagnosed with the heart problem, but her poor parents could not afford the surgery, which is about Indian Rupees 200,000 to Rs 350,000, depending on the complexity of the ailment.