Six-year-old diagnosed with rare heart condition

Doctors at Nishtar Hospital say the boy has two holes in his heart and required emergency surgery.

MULTAN: A six-year-old boy in Multan has been diagnosed with a rare heart condition. Doctors at Nishtar Hospital said that the boy had two holes in his heart and required emergency surgery.

Purana Shajahabad resident Nadeem Anwar’s son Mohsin Ali was recently diagnosed with a rare heart condition and Nishtar Hospital doctors have recommended that he be sent abroad for treatment. Nishtar Hospital Dr Karamat said that Mohsin had already had one by-pass surgery and that he needed advanced care that could not be provided locally. “He has already had a by-pass and we don’t have the facilities here to treat his condition. We have recommended treatment abroad because this is a very complicated surgery,” Dr Karamat said, adding that  district hospitals lacked the expertise to conduct such an operation. Nadeem Anwar told reporters that he had collected funds with the help of his family and friends to pay for his son’s by-pass surgery. “I cannot afford his treatment abroad but the doctors say that he will not survive without the surgery,” he said. Anwar has appealed to the government and Punjab Chief Minister for assistance in paying for his son’s treatment.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th, 2011.