Holes in three babies' hearts finally filled in through surgery on Monday, ending a dna campaign
About two weeks ago, dna wrote about four helpless city couples who were unable to afford the cost of open-heart surgeries for their children, aged 19 days to 15 months. On Monday, three of the couples gave a massive sigh of relief as their children got operated upon at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital (KDAH), Andheri. There's more good news: after surgery, the babies will be able to lead normal lives.
Responding to the dna report of February 12, KDAH did the surgeries for free. The cost of each surgery would have ranged between Rs. 1.5 to 3 lakh.
According to the KDAH doctors, the babies are responding well to the treatment. Said Dr Snehal Kulkarni, cardiologist from KDAH, We will keep them under observation for couple of days and will discharge them in a week's time."
She added, "After the corrective surgery, the children will lead a normal life."
Dr Kulkarni said, "Last week three out of four babies got admitted in KDAH. Before the surgery, we stabilised the babies and addressed the infections they already had. Once they were stabilised, we decided to go ahead with the surgery. One of the youngest babies is 29 days old, and we will operate upon her two months later, because currently she is not fit for surgery."
Of the four babies, four-month-old Rahul Gupta and four-month-old Vidhi Pawar are in the intensive care unit (ICU) while 15-month old Sejal Jagtap has been transferred from the ICU to the general ward.
The parents are overjoyed at the thought of their children leading a healthy life. "I never thought that my child will get operated upon in such a huge hospital. We couldn't have afforded the cost of treatment," said Vivek Jagtap, father of Sejal, who works as a barber in Ulhasnagar.
Jagtap said that he is now waiting for the doctors to shift his daughter out from the ICU so that he can take her in his arms and play with her. "I am eagerly looking forward to the day when I will take my daughter home and see her grow up as a normal child," said Jagtap.
Vinod Pawar, father of Vidhi, a Sandhurst road resident who works in a surgical shop, said, "We are really grateful for the fact that everything went smoothly."
"We are speechless, we really don't have words to say thanks to god. This surgery has given my child a second life," said Rahul's father Dhanesh Gupta, who works as a daily wage labourer in Mumbra.
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