New Delhi: Another testimony to the fact that India has a big heart and it is proved time and again. Not only Indians are lucky to have Sushma Swaraj as Minister of External Affairs but Pakistanis also.
Many Pakistani families who have received help in time from Sushma Swaraj say that she is like an angel for their children who were suffering from critical heart ailments. These children, Doctors say, require multiple complex surgeries and India is the best destination for the Pakistani families to treat their children. Noida’s Jaypee hospital has been performing surgeries to children from Pakistan.
The families say that they appeal to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Twitter and the response is very quick in the form of Indian High Commission in Pakistan dispatching visas immediately to avoid any delay in performing surgeries.
Shireen Shiraz was suffering from a heart problem. She was brought to India eight months ago during which getting visas was not a problem. But last month, a complex heart surgery had to be performed and this time Visas were hard to come by. Then Shireen’s father Ahmed appealed to Sushma Swaraj on twitter regarding the grave problem. In his words “I put out the appeal on the morning of October 18. Within a , the minister responded and I got a call from the Indian High Commission saying the visas were being dispatched to me in Karachi,”
“When we arrived at the Delhi airport, customs officials received us and got us a queue-less immigration so as not to waste any time,” he said. They were just in time for a second heart surgery at Noida’s Jaypee Hospital.
“The doctors say she will need a third heart surgery when she is 10 years old. I hope when we come then, India-Pakistan relations would have improved and visas would be easier to get,” said Shiraz’s mother, Hira. “People speak of India-Pakistan rivalry, but I only know that India gave life to my child,” she said.
Dr Rajesh Sharma, director of Paediatric Cardiac Surgery at Noida’s Jaypee Hospital, said that Pakistani patients have been coming to India for long, but visa conditions in the past six months have posed some problems.
“It is commendable on the part of our minister to intervene in such cases where children are critical and time is short,” he said.