As Geeta returns home, India issues visa to girl from Pakistan for transplant operation

Dubai: In a humanitarian gesture, India has issued a visa to a five-year-old girl from Pakistan suffering from chronic liver disease to undergo a transplant operation in the country.

Basma Mohammad Faisal is currently admitted in Royal Hospital in Oman and is scheduled to undergo a liver transplant operation at the Global Health City in Chennai.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted on Wednesday, “We have issued a visa for Basma’s surgery in India. We wish her a speedy recovery.”

“She has become very weak, as she has not taken food for many days. We’ll fly to India once the doctors give her the fit-for-flying certificate. Right now, she is being fed directly into her bloodstream through a drip IV lodged in her vein,” her father Mohammad Faisal Raza said.

A spokesperson at the Global Hospital said that hospital staff has been in touch with the family to plan their travel to India.

“Our liver transplant team has already gone through the reports for the patient sent from Oman. The child has a cirrhotic liver with high serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP). With the background problem of chronic liver disease, along with biliary system issues, it is essential for Basma to undergo a liver transplant operation,” said Syed Zia Akhtar, Assistant Manager-International Patients Assistance Center, Global Health City.

PTI