Bhutan Directs Fayaz to Bangalore

Ways of life are quite strange and cannot be understood most of the time. For Fayaz, the 21-year-old young man, the future was very promising as he left his hometown in West Bengal and went to Bhutan for a good paying job. The unexpected happened when he had to undergo a medical examination as part of the immigration process in Bhutan. He was diagnosed with a hole in the heart and the Bhutanese doctor told him to go to Bangalore and get himself treated.

As Fayaz never felt anything wrong with him and had no symptoms, he applied for a re-examination. The re-examination too came out with the same results.

Other than the fact that Bangalore is somewhere in the southern part of India, Fayaz knew nothing about the city or about any hospital where he can go and get himself treated. As a young man, just starting his career, his financial means were also very limited. He then contacted one of his friends working in Kerala, who told him about the Sathya Sai Baba’s Super Specialty Hospital in Bangalore.

Fayaz came to SSSIHMS and was operated within one week. The cardiologist told him that he has 3.2 cms hole in upper part of the heart and is there from birth and he will start getting the symptoms as he grows older. At that time, even a surgery may not yield the desired results. Luckily this has been detected early and the hole was closed even without a surgery by using a dumbbell shaped device placed in the heart through a small hole in the thigh.

Now Fayaz, 23 years old, is working in Kerala in the construction industry and leading a normal life.

Why he was directed to Bangalore and that too from a doctor in Bhutan? Fayaz does not have the answer even today.

(All names changed to protect privacy)

(As told to and written by Subramanian Venkataraman, a Volunteer)

Note to the Reader:
Hole in the heart is one of the common birth defects of heart. It generally observed when the mother is deficient in required amount of nutrition at the time of pregnancy. This is commonly observed in the poor strata of society.