01 April,2014 09:27 AM IST | | Shailesh Bhatia
Thanks to mid-day readers, doctors were able to perform both operations, clear her arteries and fill the hole in her heart in a five-hour surgery on Monday
On the auspicious day of Gudi Padwa, the Acharya family could have not asked for a better gift than to see their ten-month-old baby, Sakshi, take her first steps towards recovery. Thanks to the benevolent readers of mid-day, doctors were able to clear her blocked arteries and fix the hole in her heart in a complex five-hour operation on Monday morning.
After the operation, ten-month-old Sakshi Acharya can expect to lead a normal life
Last week, mid-day had reported how an NRI from Texas, after reading the story about Sakshi Acharya in need of twin surgeries, transferred the entire sum for the first operation, in the account of Jupiter Lifeline Hospital. Her surgery required Rs 1.2 lakh, a sum her security guard father and sales executive mother simply did not have.
mid-day's March 25 report
The operation was a success yesterday. "After thorough evaluation by our team of experts, we decided to perform the two operations at the same time, bringing down the cost to R1.8 lakh," said Dr L Srinivas, chief paediatric cardiac surgeon, Jupiter Lifeline Hospital.
Religion no bar
Mrunal Parab, a family friend of the Acharyas, said, "We initially required R1.2 lakh, which was taken care of by the NRI donor. When both the operations were clubbed together, we needed another Rs 50,000 for the operation.
Luckily, the Siddhivinayak Trust, who gave Rs 25,000, and other anonymous donors, had already transferred the money to the hospital.
Office colleagues, too, were able to raise around Rs 12,000 between them. The Jerusalem Marthoma Church in Ambernath also donated about Rs 40,000, which can be utilised for post-operative care of the child."
