Oxonian Heart Foundation saving destitute cardiac patients

Tuesday, 29 July 2014 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Fathima Riznaz Hafi In a bid to save the lives of the impoverished who suffer from heart disease, the Oxonian Heart Foundation (OHF) has taken great strides to facilitate free cardiac treatment in the northern, north central and eastern regions of Sri Lanka. Currently patients have to travel to Colombo or Kandy to receive treatment due to the lack of facilities. In addition to the heavy cost of treatment, the patients also have to bear the cost and torment of the long travel. Even if they seek treatment in a government hospital in Colombo, they still have the cost of the journey to cover. The journey can take many hours, as a result of which some don’t make it on time. Speaking at a press round table, Oxonian Heart Foundation Founder/Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon/University of Oxford Senior Lecturer Dr. Ravi Perumalpillai, explicating the current situation in the Northern Province with regard to cardiac surgery in Sri Lanka, said: “In a population of 1.2 million, cardiac disease is a major cause of death, particularly in young males, with an estimated 800 patients per annum requiring cardiac surgery. Cardiac surgery provisions are non-existent, around 200-250 cases per year are currently being referred to Colombo for cardiac surgery.” Dr. Perumalpillai who has a vast experience spanning over 33 years in the field of cardiac services, elaborating on the impact of the lack of facilities upon children went on to say that congenital heart disease continues to require more funding and one of the consequences of the lack of funds is death in early adulthood, or a child is impoverished by the death of the breadwinner due to heart disease and a deficient social care system. Recognising the difficulties that patients in these areas go through in seeking treatment due to their geographical location as well as the heavy costs of treatment or travelling far to receive treatment, the foundation raises funds to ensure that these patients can receive the treatment in their own region and those who can’t afford treatment receive it for free. Established in 2012, OHF is a charitable trust, registered in Sri Lanka and UK, which aims to set up cardiac surgery for adults and children in the Northern Province and beyond and also facilitates teaching, training and funding. Funding of North Central Hospital OHF is in partnership with the North Central Hospital (NCH) which is a modern hospital located in Thirunalvely near the University of Jaffna campus, providing 60 beds and 10 intensive care units/high dependency beds, a high grade operating theatre, 4-bed intensive and high dependency area, 10 bed ward for pre and post operative patients, specialist doctors, technicians and nurses. Their CSR initiative is to ‘bear the cost of one in five patients’. The foundation has so far received donations from abroad and also from local corporate donors, organisations and numerous individual donors. The total funds required are estimated at US$ 2 million and are to provide the necessary resources for the successful implementation of their plan, such as additional equipment to set up cardiac surgery at the North Central Hospital; training of support personnel, provide for the support team from Oxford that will initiate, train, monitor and support the program until it is established; provide for overseas specialists who will help support the program until it is established; and set up a treating system for the destitute which will be free-of-charge. Cycling campaign: Jaffna to Colombo Working alongside Dr. Perumalpillai for this worthy cause is University of Jaffna Cycling Team Representative Pratheesh Maheswaran. Sharing his personal experience with us, saying it is this experience that had led him to come forward and help, Pratheesh said, in early 2004, when he was preparing for exams, his father started having regular chest pains. “My dad was seeing a number of doctors but none of the doctors related the pains to cardio problems. He then went to a private hospital in Colombo, where he went through an angiogram after which he was instructed to undergo surgery. Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon Dr. Chandima Amarasena performed the surgery and my dad is still alive,” he said. But that was only the first part of the story. The second part was post-operative care. “Normally in our culture, if one person is sick, the whole family takes care of him. But we couldn’t do that because the whole family can’t travel to Colombo. I was the only one who went and this put a lot of stress on my father,” he said. After the operation he had to stay in Colombo for one month. “This was my first time in Colombo and it was terrifying because I couldn’t speak Sinhala and I couldn’t speak fluent English,” he recalls. Since he was from a middle class family he was able to afford the travel and since his father was in good hands in Colombo, he was successfully treated but then he thought about the poorer patients and wondered what they would do in this situation. The distance was immense and so was the expenditure. Having first-hand experience travelling all the way from Jaffna to Colombo for his father’s treatment and well aware of the hardships involved Pratheesh has come forward to help other people from Jaffna by raising awareness and raising funds for the successful running of the NCH and the provision of free services for the destitute. He is the program coordinator of the cycling campaign that is scheduled to take place next month. Students of the University of Jaffna in support of the cause have volunteered to cycle from Jaffna to Colombo to raise funds for the establishment of the cardiothoracic unit. The campaign consists of a cyclist team, medical team, campaign management team, fundraising team, awareness team, logistics coordinator, route coordinator and police team. The cyclists will set out on 15 August and aim to reach Vavuniya where they will spend their first night. On 16 August they will travel towards Kurunegala where they will spend their second night and finally on 17 August they will leave Kurunegala and head to Colombo.