Vaishali Yadav comes from a poor family, had a hole in her heart.
By Sreekanth A. Nair
A 6-year-old girl from Pune got her heart surgery done after she wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking financial help.
Hailing from a poor family, Vaishali Yadav suffered from a hole in her heart and a surgery was necessary. But she couldn’t afford the surgery as her father was a small-time painter, reported India Today.
Finally, she decided to seek the help of Modi. She wrote a letter to Modi explaining her health issues and the inability of the family to meet the treatment expenses. Modi respondedwithin five days and the surgery was done soon.
“Vaishali had a hole in the heart and after consulting various hospitals, we came to know that the surgery expenses were above Rs three lakh. However, due to our poor economic background and lack of below poverty line (BPL) documents, the surgery was not possible,” Vaishali’s uncle Pratap Yadav told India Today.
The family had approached many hospitals for help. But the effort didn’t succeed as all the hospitals rejected their application.
“I saw my kaka sitting sadly after being rejected by many hospitals. Just then, Modi appeared on the television screen. I brought out a pen and paper and said I want to write to the PM about my condition so that my operation can be done for free. And, surprisingly, my kaka agreed. I tore a page from my notebook and wrote everything to Modi, right from my heart condition to being extremely poor,” Vaishali told Pune Mirror.
Modi, in response to her letter, asked the district administration to convene a meeting of all hospitals in Pune. In the meeting, Ruby Hall Clinic agreed to conduct the surgery free of cost.
As Vaishali had attached her school identity card along with the letter, which the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) sent to the district administration, the authorities could find her home without any difficulty.
“Dr. Shrikar Pardeshi, IAS officer, and Director in the PMO, personally called me to inform about the letter and asked to help the girl accordingly,” District collector Sourabh Rao told PTI.
“The patient came with the PM’s reference and we did it for free. We have done as many as 100 pediatric surgeries in the last one year without charging a single penny,” Dr. Purvez Grant, Ruby Hall Clinic’s chairman, told Pune Mirror.