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City hospital gifts life to poor kids
Padipta, a labourer's daughter who was suffering from the congenital heart disease, is now living happily with her family in Sikkim.
Padipta, a labourer's daughter who was suffering from the congenital heart disease, is now living happily with her family in Sikkim.
Thanks to a Gurgaon hospital that treated the 12-year-old last month for free.
Another patient Suhani Abrol, 5, from Udhampur, Jammu and Kashmir, recently got treatment for the similar ailment at Alchemist Hospital, only hospital in Gurgaon which has been assigned by the Rotary Club to treat children from weaker section of society under its scheme "Gift of Life".
Alchemist has treated half a dozen such kids from Jammu and Kashmir and the states in the north-east.
The treatment cost, which is about R5 lakh per surgery, is borne by the Rotary Club.
"We ensure that patients who fall under the below poverty line are taken care of," said AC Peter, a member of Rotary Club of Delhi East End and the national coordinator of Gift of Life.
"Recently we did a heart surgery wherein a small incision of one inch was done to treat a congenital heart disease instead of long incisions done in other cases. No hospital in Gurgaon has ever done this," said Pramod Mittal, a cardiac surgeon at Alchemist.
Launched by Rotary clubs in India in 2002, the Gift of Life project helps hundreds of children with heart problems by providing free cardiac surgery, medicines, food and accommodation.
