The Hindu : Noor being taken off ventilator

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 19, 2003

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National

Noor being taken off ventilator

By Divya Sreedharan

BANGALORE JULY 18 . A week ago, Noor Fatima arrived in India on the newly-resumed Lahore-Delhi "Dosti bus'', for an open heart surgery.

The surgery took place on July 15 at the Narayana Hrudayalaya here and now the two-and-a-half-year-old is "progressing well'', in the hospital's intensive therapy unit (ITU), hospital authorities said.

On Friday, the hospital CMD, Devi Shetty, who was part of the team that operated on Noor, told The Hindu that they were "in the process of taking her off the ventilator. The entire process takes 48 hours,'' he said. The step-by-step procedure would be over by Saturday morning and once off the ventilator, the child would also be given solid food.

Dr. Shetty, however, said that Noor would be kept in the ITU for some more time. "We are thinking of keeping her there for some more days because a number of people want to meet her.''

In the ITU, it was easier to control any risk of infection, he added.

Intense media attention has generated a lot of interest in the child and her parents, Nadeem Sajjad and Tayyaba Nadeem.

This, in turn, has made the hospital extra careful about the child's post-operative care.

Meanwhile, donors have been calling the hospital to offer money for the new "Dosti fund.'' "Many people have called about donations,'' but it was difficult to specify exact amounts, Dr. Shetty added.

Noor's parents were able to pay for the operation, but the attention on the family has now led to more focus on people too poor to afford such treatment.

Dr. Shetty himself has said that "hardly 10 per cent of people on this planet,'' can afford heart operations.

In India, 300 children are born with such diseases every day but only 2,000-3,000 get operated in each year. And worldwide, 2.5 million people need such heart operations every year, but less than 50,000 get operated upon.

(See Editorial in Opinion section)

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