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New lease of life Iraqi children get a new lease of life

Staff Reporter

They had congenial heart disease

A CELEBRATION OF LIFE: Hana from Kirkut in Iraq along with her daughter, Chero Juma Ismail, and two other children, Rekar Ahamed and Yahia Isam Hussain, who underwent open-heart surgery early this month at a hospital in Thiruvalla, in the city on Wed nesday. — Photo: S. Gopakumar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Agony has given way to ecstasy for three children and their family from Kirkut in Northern Iraq. The children, Rekar Ahamed, 7, Yahia Isam Hussain, 5 and Chero Juma Ismail, 2, who underwent open-heart surgery at St. Gregorios Cardiovascular Centre, near Parumala, this month got a new lease of life.

The children diagnosed as having congenial heart disease were among the 10 handpicked by Brothers Together, charity organisation, for open-heart surgery in Kerala, Israel and Germany in view of the situation prevailing in Iraq.

The children and their parents travelled all the way from Kirkut to Jordan by road with much difficulty. The Indian Embassy in Jordan issued them visa to enable them to travel via Doha to Thiruvananthapuram by a scheduled flight of Qatar Airways on June 1. Rekar and Chero underwent surgery on June 2 and Yahia on June 3. Blood was a problem faced by the medical team as Chero needed O negative and Yahia B negative. The local residents helped find donors. "All the three had blue coloured congenial heart disease. Rekar and Yahia had recovered completely. Chero will have to undergo another surgery in two years. Her arteries were small and only that has been corrected now," John Jacob, Staff Cardiologist, and Saji Philip, Pediatric Cardiologist, of the centre told The Hindu . The medical team of the centre will monitor the health of the children through telemedicine. The medicines needed for two months will be taken from here. The surgery, which cost Rs.2 lakhs each, was done free of cost by the centre functioning under Frontier Lifeline of Dr. K.M. Cherian Heart Foundation. The children and their parents visited Kumarakom. "We could not afford the surgery for our children as we are all construction workers. We could not dream of taking them to another country for treatment," says Isam, father of Yahia. Chero was accompanied by her father, Juma, and mother, Hana, while Rekar was accompanied by his father, Ahamed. A send off was organised in the State capital by the foundation on Wednesday night for the children. The children along with their parents will return via Doha from Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday morning.

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