A sum of 30,000 dollars can help a Karachiite to buy a two-bed flat in some middle-income locality or even a good car, but this money can also help save the life of eight-month-old baby girl.
Nazish Sher, a small supply trader of Karachi and his wife Zehra Nazish, a private schoolteacher, told media at a press conference at Karachi Press Club (KPC) on Wednesday that their girl child, Nina Nazish, now eight-month-old, was born without gall bladder.
They said the doctors at the time of her birth mistook her disease as jaundice, and when she was three-month-old, she was diagnosed as born without gall bladder and a non-working liver. They said that the doctors had suggested that Nina, a patient of Biliary Atresia, should now undergo liver transplant on urgent basis, because her life was at the stake due to her non-working liver.
They said presently in Pakistan there were no liver-transplant surgery facilities, and they had to visit some foreign country for this purpose. The couple said that the cost of liver transplant in Western countries was too high, adding they were told that the lowest cost of this surgery was about 40,000 to 45,000 dollars at the Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, India.
They said they had raised some 15,000 dollars from their own resources and needed about 30,000 dollars for the treatment of their baby. They said they had approached many government departments and officials, but got only cold response.
They said they were also approaching the non-governmental organisations (NGOs), but till now failed to raise the required funds. They requested the government, NGOs and philanthropists to come for their rescue and help them in meeting expenses of liver transplant surgery of their daughter.
They said they had already conducted required tests and the mother of baby was found fit to be the donor for liver transplant. They said that Dr Iqbal Memon and Dr Shabbir Hussain was the physician and surgery consultant, respectively, of the baby in Pakistan. They said that the family could be contacted on cell phone (0303-243378) of Nazish Sher for further details. The couple lives in North Nazimabad, Karachi. Besides, eight-month old Nina, they also have a six-years-old son.