New lease of life for 20 children from Malawi | The Hindu

Thanks to the Rotary Club of Chandigarh, 20 children from Malawi suffering from congenital heart diseases will get free treatment here.

Announcing the arrival of the first batch of four such children, the club said that the offer to provide free treatment was made in April this year, when a team of doctors, led by former world president of Rotary International Rajendra K. Saboo and then district governor Madhukar Malhotra, went to Malawi and Zambia on a medical mission and treated patients there.

Project Heartline

The club has been running the Project Heartline, earlier known as Gift of Life, since 1999 and providing free treatment to children suffering from congenital heart diseases.

“So far, 365 children have been saved and whenever there is a deserving case in and around Chandigarh, the Rotary always takes up such cases,” Mr. Saboo said.

“The idea of taking up cases from other countries is also to serve beyond our borders and live up to the eternal saying Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam [The world is one family].”

In the past, two children from Afghanistan, six from Nepal, 24 from Pakistan and 12 from Uganda have been treated free here.

The four children who arrived from Malawi with their guardians were: Brain Milanzi (2) suffering from atrial septal defect , Hasting Maloya (6) and Patience Nkhoma (6) — both suffering from ventral septal defect — and Prisca Patrick (14) diagnosed with patent ductus arteriosus.

Treatment at Fortis

Mr. Saboo said all these children would be operated upon at Fortis Hospital in Mohali, one of the partner hospitals of Rotary Heartline project. Ten doctors from Malawi are expected to arrive in the country for advanced short-term training, courtesy the Rotary.

• So far, 365 children have been saved
• “The idea is to save beyond our borders”