'Born in one country, given life in another'
By Sidrah Roghay
Karachi
Dr Sanjay Bose sits at a clinic at the Tabba hospital and examines patients, mostly children who come in with various heart ailments. He puts a stethoscope on their chest, hears their heartbeat, goes through medical reports and asks them, "Do you have a passport?
Will you come to India for your surgery?"
Most are taken by surprise. They smile shyly and look up to their parents for an answer. The Aman ki Asha and Rotary Club have a vision to send 200 patients to India this year for free-of-cost heart-related surgeries.
India is believed to be ahead of Pakistan when it comes to heart surgeries for children. "We do not have many Pakistani cardiologists who can perform surgeries on children, which is much more complicated than performing it on adults," explains Fahad Anwer Chishti, Public Relations Officer (PRO) at the Tabba Heart Institute.
Dr Bose is a leading cardiologist in India, and has been running a hospital in a small city in West Bengal. "Pakistan has several congenital heart diseases because of cousin marriages," he says.
He explains that a parent should become alert if a playful child is not able to run around like a normal kid. "Then there are cases of blue babies. These children are born with a tinge of blue because the heart cannot separate the good and bad blood."
He appreciates the Aman ki Asha initiative because "it brings forward a positive message, and perceptions change when the message reaches home"."We share common problems and the region should get together to solve these issues," he maintains.
Director Rotary International India Shekhar Mehta is part of the team here from India. "Before partition at least we knew each other. The present generation does not. We need to have people-to-people contact to undermine this perceived animosity."
He shares an example: "One of the patients who got his surgery done in India told me, 'I was born in one country, but given life in another'."
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Karachi
Dr Sanjay Bose sits at a clinic at the Tabba hospital and examines patients, mostly children who come in with various heart ailments. He puts a stethoscope on their chest, hears their heartbeat, goes through medical reports and asks them, "Do you have a passport?
Will you come to India for your surgery?"
Most are taken by surprise. They smile shyly and look up to their parents for an answer. The Aman ki Asha and Rotary Club have a vision to send 200 patients to India this year for free-of-cost heart-related surgeries.
India is believed to be ahead of Pakistan when it comes to heart surgeries for children. "We do not have many Pakistani cardiologists who can perform surgeries on children, which is much more complicated than performing it on adults," explains Fahad Anwer Chishti, Public Relations Officer (PRO) at the Tabba Heart Institute.
Dr Bose is a leading cardiologist in India, and has been running a hospital in a small city in West Bengal. "Pakistan has several congenital heart diseases because of cousin marriages," he says.
He explains that a parent should become alert if a playful child is not able to run around like a normal kid. "Then there are cases of blue babies. These children are born with a tinge of blue because the heart cannot separate the good and bad blood."
He appreciates the Aman ki Asha initiative because "it brings forward a positive message, and perceptions change when the message reaches home"."We share common problems and the region should get together to solve these issues," he maintains.
Director Rotary International India Shekhar Mehta is part of the team here from India. "Before partition at least we knew each other. The present generation does not. We need to have people-to-people contact to undermine this perceived animosity."
He shares an example: "One of the patients who got his surgery done in India told me, 'I was born in one country, but given life in another'."
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Gilani to open two-day Pak-India moot in Lahore
Aman Ki Asha economic conference
News Desk
KARACHI: Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani will inaugurate a two-day economic conference, "Dividends", being organised in .....more
Aman Ki Asha economic conferenceNews Desk
KARACHI: Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani will inaugurate a two-day economic conference, "Dividends", being organised in .....more
Commonwealth Business Forum meeting begins today
Amir Zia
PERTH: One of the world's largest gatherings of business leaders starts in the western Australian city of Perth on Tuesday to push for economic develop .....more
Amir ZiaPERTH: One of the world's largest gatherings of business leaders starts in the western Australian city of Perth on Tuesday to push for economic develop .....more
Pakistan targets regional ties at Commonwealth Business Forum
Khurram Bari Khan
KARACHI: With a focus on regional trade and investment, a high-profile Pakistani delegation will present a bundle of projects before its 54-na .....more
Khurram Bari KhanKARACHI: With a focus on regional trade and investment, a high-profile Pakistani delegation will present a bundle of projects before its 54-na .....more
'Friendship through flowers' conference in India planned
our correspondent
Karachi
The Karachi Sogetsu Study Group is planning an international conference with Sogetsu teachers in India under the banner of Aman ki Ash .....more
our correspondentKarachi
The Karachi Sogetsu Study Group is planning an international conference with Sogetsu teachers in India under the banner of Aman ki Ash .....more
'A little more sense of urgency'
Just days after India released 61 Pakistani prisoners at the behest of Indian Supreme Court, Pakistan arrested 13 Indian fishermen and seized their four boats seized.
more
Just days after India released 61 Pakistani prisoners at the behest of Indian Supreme Court, Pakistan arrested 13 Indian fishermen and seized their four boats seized. more
Where do we go from here?
Mani Shankar Aiyar, Indian Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) and former Consul-General of India, Karachi argues for "uninterrupted and uninterruptible" dialogue<
.....more
Mani Shankar Aiyar, Indian Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) and former Consul-General of India, Karachi argues for "uninterrupted and uninterruptible" dialogue<
.....more Page 119 of 175
Special Editions
more editions
The News on Sunday Special Report: India Pakistan prisoners
We probably didn't need to do this Special Report. Newspaper stories don't matter when it comes to Indians in Pakistani jails and vice versa. In fact, 'vice versa' sums it up. We do to them what they do to us.
Except when the two countries decide to begin talking, yet again! This time a little before the foreign secretary level talks, some Pakistani prisoners were released by India (and vice versa must have happened) and some more were release....read more
Blog
more
For the past 2 years the Jang Group and Geo have been working on a project of great national interest; one that we hope will help usher in an era of peace and prosperity in the country and indeed, in the region. And one that hopefully all Pakistanis can be proud of.
The Jang Group has entered into an agreement with the Times of India Group, the largest media group of India, to campaign for peace betw
Global Media
Comments