The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Touching hearts across the ocean

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 17, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Touching hearts across the ocean

Dennis Marcus Mathew

HYDERABAD: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam is doing what he enjoys most - helping children. This time, he has inspired Air India and Hyderabad-based Care Hospitals to extend a caring hand across the Indian Ocean to children with congenital heart disorders living in the rural plains of Tanzania.

Dr. Kalam, who earlier motivated Care Hospitals to set up the Little Hearts Care Foundation for tiny tots with weak hearts, is now coordinating from Rashtrapati Bhavan, treatment of 10 Tanzanian children with heart ailments. The modalities are being worked out between Air India and Care Hospitals with Tanzania's High Commissioner, Eva L. Nzaro, arriving in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

Extended cooperation

Ms. Nzaro, speaking to The Hindu , said she would discuss with Care Hospitals chairman B. Somaraju, the possibilities of sending doctors to Tanzania to study the incidence of congenital heart disorders in rural areas and to select children requiring immediate medical attention. Once the first batch of 10 children is brought, the collaboration could extend beyond that.

A-I's generosity

"Ten or even 1,000 children will just be a drop in the ocean. Our problems are big - heart disorders, malaria and AIDS are threats with malaria being the no.1 killer disease. We are looking at closer tie-ups with Care to set up a hospital in Tanzania or have joint ventures with our hospitals to transfer technology and expertise. Our Government is ready to give land and all help they need. What we require is your medical expertise," she said.

Ms. Nzaro said flying in the children to Hyderabad would be made possible by the generosity of Air India chairman and managing director, V. Tulasidas, who has agreed to give free tickets to the children and their mothers.

Kalam praised

"It all started with Dr. Kalam's visit to Tanzania last year. He was the first President of any country to think about our children when he visited a group of handicapped children and gifted them with Braille computers, tricycles and hearing aids. We realised then that he was not just a President, but a man of the people. Tanzania is immensely grateful to him," Ms. Nzaro said.

"We do not have statistics of children with heart ailments because the problem is so huge. In rural areas, there are many dying without even knowing the cause of their disease," she said. "In that context, what Dr. Kalam, Air India and Care Hospitals are doing is really noble."

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