The plaintive plea of a six-year-old girl from an impoverished background, suffering from a hole in the heart, has resounded powerfully with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, following which he immediately arranged for a financial aid to perform surgery, saving the minor’s life.
Mr. Modi personified providential intervention to little Vaishali Yadav, a Class II student hailing from a poor family in Pune’s Hadapsar area.
The child, who studies at the Pradnya Shishu Vihar school in Phursungi, belongs to the below poverty line (BPL) category. Her father, a small-time painter, was unable to afford the expensive heart surgery which amounted to Rs. 3 lakh. She had even sold her toys and bicycle to purchase medicines. As Vaishali lacked BPL documents, her family could not avail of any of the BPL heath scheme of the government.
“Modi Sarkar mala madat pahije (Help me, Modi govt.)”, was what the little girl heartrendingly wrote after watching the PM on television, in the innocent hope that her prayers be answered.
“Vaishali wrote the letter and attached her school ID card with it and asked me to post it. I did it to keep the girl’s heart, assuming that we would not get any reply. However, within a week, to our great joy, few people from the school, along with some district administration staff, came looking for us. We were summoned to a meeting with the Collector sahib,” said Pratap Yadav, the girl’s uncle.
Within a week of posting the later, the administrative gears had creaked into action, with a letter from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) directing the Pune District Collector to trace the girl and provide her with the necessary aid to perform the critical surgery.
Pune District Collector Saurabh Rao said the letter from the PMO was received on May 24, following which the district authorities traced the family’s address and rushed the girl to the city’s Ruby Hall Clinic, where she was successfully operated free of charge on June 4.
“She was admitted here on June 2 and operated on June 4. She is fine and in good health and was discharged yesterday,” said Dr. Sanjay Pathare, Medical Director, Ruby Hall Clinic.
Mr. Rao said that a report of the girl’s successful surgery had been dispatched to the PMO by his office after her discharge from the hospital.
