They are all set to go back to their homeland in Sindh, Pakistan, with a baby heart that now beats normally and an adult heart that is full of gratitude.
Two-and-a-half-year-old Hina Tapu and her father Muneer Talpur have been in the city for the past one week for the treatment of the child at a city hospital for a rare heart rhythm problem termed “idiopathic fascicular ventricular tachycardia”.
The father-daughter duo would be leaving the city soon to join their anxious family back home in their farming village that goes by the name of Haji Abdulrahim Talpur in Badin district of Sindh province. The child, who had heart rates that went as high as 240 a minute, went through a procedure at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences here that rectified the heart tissues responsible for the fast heart beat. It was an electric circuit in the heart that was going wrong, explained Dr. K.U. Natarajan, head of the cardiology department and specialist in cardiac electrophysiology.
The paediatric cardiology team headed by Dr. R. Krishnakumar tapped the arm artery through which the heart of the child was reached through a catheter.
The cardiac problem for the child surfaced in July following which Mr. Muneer took the child to a nearby hospital from where the child was referred to a bigger hospital.
The child’s condition was stabilised at Aga Khan Hospital in Karachi, 200 km from their village. However, the problem kept recurring. It was with a reference from Dr. Babar Hassan from the Karachi hospital that Mr. Muneer brought the child here. The only problem was a two-month procedural delay in getting a visa, said Mr. Muneer. “I feel wonderful after coming here since my daughter has got better,” he said. He presented the two doctors with ‘ajrak’, a traditional block printed shawl-like woven material from Sindh as a token of his gratitude.
