Global team gives life to Iraqi children

 

Since three years, a team of volunteers from Imam Hussain Holy Shrine, #Give campaign and Laureatte Educational & Welfare Foundation, Naryana Health City have been working hard to save the lives of Iraqi children suffering from heart problems.

 

One-year-old Haider from Karbala is the 16th child to be successfully treated as part of the Give Life campaign.

Haideral-Juboori was born with a hole in the heart- a structural defect of the heart known as Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). His mother felt very helpless, as the family could not afford to pay for the surgery required to repair this congenital heart defect.

His grandfather said, “We went to many places for treatment and were denied every time. And I am so happy to see my grandson smile”.

Speaking to Hussein Revivalism, Dr. Zakaria Abbas, member of "Who is Hussain" in India, said, “During my visit to Iraq, I saw an orphaned child who looked visibly upset. I couldn’t speak Arabic but I understood that the child had been suffering from a congenital heart defect and needed surgery.” Zakaria, who was still an MBBS student at the time, felt that there is little that he could do to save that child and many others like him. However, after coming back to India, he decided to take matters into his own hands.

Who is Hussain, a global non-profit organization that works to empower the deprived and the needy, made use of the platform to launch the GiveLife campaign in collaboration with Imam Hussain Holy Shrine.

Holy shrine coordinator Mr. Haider al-Mangooshi said, “Imam Hussain Holy Shrine’s main role is finding poor Iraqi children with heart problems that cannot afford treatment and introducing the campaign to them.”

The Organization then covers all treatment costs and the Laureatte E&W Foundation, chairman Mr. Aga Sultan, provides complete hospitality and logistics on the ground during their stay at Bangalore, India  and the treatment is done at Naryana Health City by super specialists doctors at a subsidised rate offered by Dr. Devi Shetty, chairman NH who is an eminent cardiac surgeon.

Zahraa al-Aboudi, a four-year-old girl from Baghdad, was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect only a few months after her birth and as a result has suffered from multiple lung infections and constant symptoms of cough, pallor and weakness.

Her father said this after the operation:"This seems like a dream. I saw my child a few hours after the operation, and when she looked at me, I could not hold back my tears. She can now be like any other child. She can play with her friends and will now go to sleep with a smile on her face. I am going to take this opportunity to encourage my daughter to become a doctor.”

Al-Mangooshi clarified that sometimes the child’s health condition and certain complications do not allow an operation to be performed. After the necessary medical examinations, doctors decide that the child is not yet ready. However, he/she is given medical treatment.

The Give Life campaign started on 2016 and has treated tens of children from around Iraq. If you want to support the campaign or live in Iraq or know someone that does and is suffering from heart diseases, contact the International Media Center at Imam Hussain Holy Shrine for further information.

 

International Media Center

Email: internationalmedia.iq@gmail.com

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