When a fire accident rendered both the hands of this railway employee from Tiruchi useless, he lost not only his job but also the ability to perform even the simplest of actions. Just when he had lost all hope, he heard about the ‘Hope after Fire’ project in Coimbatore. After treatment, the functions of both his hands have been restored and he has managed to get back his job.
He is among the 138 fire accident victims to have benefited from this three-year-old project under which 213 surgeries have been performed at a total cost of Rs. 78 lakh. Some patients will require multiple surgeries.
A joint initiative of the Rotary Club of Coimbatore Metropolis Trust and Ganga Hospital here, the project is aimed at rebuilding the lives of fire accident victims by performing corrective surgeries free of cost. A programme was held here on Monday to mark the completion of ‘200-plus’ surgeries under the initiative.
Project Chairman and Head, Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Hand, Microsurgery and Burns, Ganga Hospital S. Raja Sabapathy, said that a young girl who was the first beneficiary of this initiative has now managed to continue her education. She is a topper in a polytechnic college in Chennai. She is also receiving assistance from Agaram Foundation, founded by actor Surya, who inaugurated the ‘Hope after Fire’ project.
While each corrective surgery costs around Rs. 50,000, he said that some patients will require as much as eight surgeries. Quoting from a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) study, he said that the ratio of returns on investment on burns corrective surgery was 13:1, even if only 25 per cent of the patient’s productivity was restored.
A funding raising event – a musical evening titled ‘sound of hope’ – has been scheduled here on March 1 for this project.
Hospital chairman J.G. Shanmuganathan, Rotary Club president Hemant J. Shah, secretary Suresh Vishwanathan spoke along with beneficiaries of the project.
