Heart patient ramrati all set to head home in a week

Within 10 days of HT reporting about her living under a tree and then inside an unused public urinal outside the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)awaiting surgery date, Madhya Pradesh-resident Ramrati (42) is ready to be discharged.

Within 10 days of HT reporting about her living under a tree and then inside an unused public urinal outside the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)awaiting surgery date, Madhya Pradesh-resident Ramrati (42) is ready to be discharged.

HT Image

A private hospital had come forward to replace her damaged heart valve for free. The surgery that took place on August 8 was a high-risk one, as 5 feet 4 inches tall Ramrati weighed a mere 31 kg.

“Her condition had deteriorated awfully. I doubt if she would have survived the wait any longer,” said Dr A Sampath Kumar, former head of cardiac surgery department at Aiims, who did the valve replacement at Pushpanjali Crosslay Hospital near Ghaziabad.

Ramrati’s husband, Bhawanidin, said, “I had heard a lot about Aiims, but it utterly disappointed me. God has been kind; we now want to go back to our children.” Ramrati’s stitches will be removed in a week, after which she can go home.

Dr Kumar, who specializes in heart-valve surgery and has created a valve which is awaiting United States Food and Drug Administration approval, offered to do the R4 lakh surgery for free after reading about her plight in HT.

“I requested a manufacturing company for a free valve and it agreed,” he said.

The valve is made of animal tissue and she would not have to be on medicines for life, Dr Kumar added.