LAHORE, April 13: The parents of a three-year-old boy who urgently requires an open-heart surgery have been forced to repeatedly knock at the door of the Chief Minister’s House for financial assistance but to no avail. The doctors had asked the parents to take the child to India for the surgery as soon as possible.

“He must have an open-heart within 90 days,” a doctor had advised back in January. The time limit ends on April 15 (tomorrow).

Young Safwan, son of Sheraz Sarfaraz, has been treated at Children’s Hospital in Lahore. The visit to India is necessitated since Pakistan lacks the expertise required in the case.

Sarfaraz, a father of two and native of Sheikhupura, was employed at a cell phone repairing shop on Hall Road until some time ago. He lost his job due to his frequent absence from duty; he was too taken up by the effort to save his son’s life. With an eye on the clock, Sarfaraz searched for a remedy for his ailing son. He learnt through the internet about the Escort Heart Institute in New Delhi. The hospital had the facilities he was looking for and he found out that children from many parts came there for treatment of complicated heart conditions.

A contact was established and Safwan’s medical reports were emailed to Escort’s senior cardiac surgeons, Dr Rajesh Sharma and Dr Mohit Arora some weeks ago. The doctors advised an open-heart surgery and asked Safwan over to Delhi. But the trip needed funds and the sum was much beyond what Sarfaraz could afford and he turned to his government in his moment of need.

According to documents available with Dawn, a medical board constituted by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and headed by Children’s Hospital Professor of Paediatric Cardiology Dr Masood Sadiq had strongly recommended immediate surgery on Safwan. The board had also mentioned that the surgery could be performed in India and had recommended financial assistance from the government to meet the expenditures.

The board’s report, which was filed on March 21, 2011, read: “Baby Safwan was reviewed by the Medical Board on March 3, 2011, along with medical record. The child has a serious Congenital Heart Disease in the form of TGA, large VSD and severe Pulmonary Stenosis. The baby needs open heart surgery involving usage of homograft/conduit… Such surgery is currently not being done at Children’s Hospital, Lahore, mainly due to non-availability of Homograft/Conduit…”

Saying that the facility of requisite surgical procedure was not available anywhere in Pakistan, the board recommended “the child may be considered for treatment abroad on humanitarian basis”.

The board’s report categorically mentioned that the cost of surgery in a general ward at the Escort Heart Institute, New Delhi, would be approximately Indian Rs200,000. In addition, the report said, the child was likely to need CT angiography which was to cost another Indian Rs9,000 and cardiac catheterization/angiography which was to cost Indian Rs25,000.

A supporting evaluation of the family’s socio-economic status done by the Lahore division commissioner also found Safwan deserving of the financial aid for treatment in India. This evaluation report was submitted to the CM Secretariat on March 22 -- five weeks after Sarfaraz had moved the secretariat for financial help. The confirmations from the medical board and the commissioner’s office had raised hope, which has now given way to desperation.

Giving details of some of his attempts to secure the aid, Sarfaraz tells Dawn he visited the CM House on March 21 but was told to come back in a week’s time. He returned the place on March 30 and this time was asked to come after 10 days.

Sarfaraz followed these orders obediently all along but after his latest visit to the CM House on Monday, April 11, he bitterly speaks of the torture that he has suffered at the hands of some government officials. And as Safwan awaits his crucial departure to Delhi, the questions about the fate of hundreds of young Pakistanis are raised loud and clear. These children are denied treatment simply because their country doesn’t have the technology available here.

Prof Masood Sadiq informs Dawn approximately one of every 100 children in Pakistan suffers from birth heart defects (Congenital Heart Disease – CHD). “However, facilities for complex heart surgery in children in our country are very limited,” he says.

“We performed heart surgeries on 425 at Children’s Hospital last year despite our limited resources,” he says. This is a big achievement considering that Dr Sadiq’s department has only one operation theatre and a five-bed intensive care unit for the huge number of patients coming there from all over the country.

The institute has the capacity to deal with 80 per cent of the cases in which a child patient requires surgery. For the treatment of the remaining 20 per cent heart diseases, the patient has to be taken abroad. Sadly, Safwan’s is such a case.

According to Dr Masood Sadiq, the boy requires a very complicated and difficult procedure which can be done either in India or a western country.

CM House Additional Secretary Admin Abdul Qayyum told Dawn the case of Sarfaraz’s son was under process and will be finalized soon. He said the involvement of a big amount in respect of financial assistance was the major reason behind the delay.

He said the CM’s hectic engagement in other important matters was also another factor which had caused some delay.

To a question that the life of the baby was at risk and he required a speedy process regarding his case which has been lying pending at his office for the last three weeks or so, he said it was among many other similar cases which were to be put up before the CM for a final decision.

Mr Qayyum said there was no specific period for the disposal of such cases.

Safwan’s problem is that he cannot wait for too long.