ROTARY LINKS
INDIA - PAKISTAN
THROUGH HEART
Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2007 22:11:40 +0530
(A unique & complex heart surgery by Dr. Devi Shetty and Dr. Shekar Rao, Bangalore, India saves Pakistan Boy)
September 8, 2007: Master Tauseef Ahmed, a young boy of 12 years from Pakistan, suffering from a critical cardiac condition of not having Aorta (main valve), half heart and one lung, was successfully operated upon at Narayana Hrudayalaya, Bangalore by the team led by Dr. Devi Shetty and very actively assisted by Dr. Shekar Rao. It was a unique case in the history of medical science as Dr. Shetty aptly puts it "Tauseef now has a heart which is half Pakistani and half Indian"
How did it happen? It is a Rotary initiated activity and the story starts from Pakistan where Rotary responding to the project undertaken by Rotary Club of Chandigarh sent Tauseef Ahmed for the surgery to Chandigarh where earlier 15 Pakistan children had been operated upon. Since Tauseef had an unusual cardiac problem for which normal heart surgery was not possible and in fact for which no definite surgical intervention anywhere in the country or abroad could be advised, there appeared to be no hope for him. His father Muhammad Siddique who was accompanying him was fully devastated. He had come with great hope and how would he go back and let his grown up son die. Could there be any hope. Rotary again came forward. Scouting many of the heart hospitals in northern part of the country where the unanimous opinion was that this boy could not be operated. There was one name that stood out as possible hope and that was of Dr. Devi Shetty. Rotary in Chandigarh referred this to Bangalore, Dr. Devi Shetty was contacted and within two days the reply came that may be it was possible. It had to be done as quickly as possible.
But then there were other constraints. The Pakistani father and boy had visa with a limited time and only for Chandigarh and Delhi. Rotary in Delhi came forward and through the Home Ministry, Government of India, got the Bangalore permission and visa extension within a day. They were in Bangalore under the care of Rotary again. Received at the airport by Rotarians they were taken to Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital where the boy was examined the very next day and the process of becoming a reality started.
Dr. Devi Shetty and Dr. Shekhar Rao together with their team went through the entire medical details and came to the conclusion that they were prepared to take this case on hand. The risks were involved but the father was ready to take them. It was a case of Pulmonary Artresia with the main valve of the heart called pulmonary valve was missing along with absent blood circulation to left side of the lung making him dependent on only one lung. Dr. Devi Shetty and Dr. Shekhar Rao with the team performed a successful surgery of total correction using a pulmonary valve homograft and reconstructed the boy's heart.
72 hours were critical . Everyone in Rotary in Pakistan or Chandigarh or New Delhi or Bangalore everyone in the hospital was praying.
And so was boy's father.
God had already answered to prayers through the hands of Dr. Shetty and Dr. Shekhar Rao and the boy made excellent recovery from the operation.
He is ready to fly back to Pakistan. From Bangalore he will fly to Delhi then go to Chandigarh and from there he will go to Wagha (Near the Holy City of Amrtisar) to cross the border according to his visa requirement. Rotary has undertaken "Gift of Life" and "Heartline" projects in India under which they have already got more than 1500 open heart corrective surgeries done for children within the country. In this project help has come from Rotarians of India and Rotarians of district 7250 in New York , U.S.A. together with grants from The Rotary Foundation. This is a continuing project undertaken by Rotary districts and clubs in the country and many times we have patients coming from Pakistan and other countries.
(Rotary Bangalore Health City (D-3190) in cooperation with Narayana Hrudayalaya and with help from Rotary District 6460 in Illinois USA and The Rotary Foundation Matching Grant is setting up a Tissue Bank to help poor and needy patients, free of charge, with human tissues including Heart Valves; skin; bones, many more tissues and, Cord Blood harvested out of cadaver will make it possible to save many more lives.)
'What can be a better way of bringing peace and linking countries than through the connection of heart. Dr. Devi Shetty's words echo "his heart is half Pakistani and half Indian". That makes Tauseef's citizen of the world, a person who will seek peace, understanding and bonding of humanity which will be not only the path to peace but also prosperity and development' says Rotary International Past President Rajendra Kumar Saboo.
Best Regards,
Radhey Agarwal
Dist. Dir. - Public Image
D-3190.