The second Pakistani child to come by the Lahore-Delhi bus to India for a heart operation underwent a successful surgery on Tuesday.
Junaid Khalid, 8, was operated upon by Dr Rajesh Sharma at the Narayana Hrudayalaya in Bangalore, and is now recovering.
But for the bus, Junaid could definitely not have come for the surgery.
"The starting of this bus route was like a gift from our god to us," says Farzana Khalid, Junaid's mother.
"It was launched on July 11. On July 14, we applied to the Indian embassy in Karachi for visas." They got them at once, and boarded the bus to Delhi a week or so later.
"Ideally, this child should have been operated on four or five years ago," says Dr Sharma. As soon as the child landed in Bangalore, he was rushed to Hrudayala, where the doctors put him through the necessary tests and scheduled the operation right away. He is now in the ICU.
Junaid was a blue baby. That is, the pure blood in his heart was constantly getting mixed with the impure blood because of a hole in the heart.
There was an inadequate flow of blood to the lungs as well. "He was so weak and used to keep gasping for breath," says Farzana, with tears in her eyes.
"I could not even put him into school because he had no energy and could not breathe properly."
This particular condition, the Khalids say, could not be rectified in Pakistan.
His father Khalid Mahmood owns a tailoring shop in Sialkot, near Lahore. Junaid is the fifth of six children. Taking him to Europe or the US for surgery was an absolutely unaffordable option.
A doctor in Britain to whom they sent his medical reports suggested that they should take Junaid to India. The Khalids' doctor in Lahore, Masood Sadiq, recommended Dr Rajesh Sharma to them.
But Dr Sharma, too, was beyond their reach, until the bus service started.
Otherwise, they would have had to fly to Dubai and then to Delhi, which would have been exhausting for Junaid and unaffordable.
The long and arduous journey cost another Pakistani child, Babbar, his life ten days ago. Babbar died of pneumonia before he could be operated upon in Bangalore, and the Hrudayala doctors believe that this was largely caused by exposure and strain during his journey.
"There are many more poor families in Pakistan with children like mine who badly need the superior medical care that they can get in India," says Farzana.
"I hope there will continue to be this ease of movement over the Indo-Pak border. The bus really saved my son's life, you know."
Meanwhile, Noor Fatima, 2, who came from Pakistan nearly 20 days ago and was operated upon at the Narayana Hrudayalaya, has recovered almost fully.
She will be discharged on Thursday and will go with her parents to Delhi and then back home to Lahore.
Noor has made such a good comeback that her weary parents now want to make the most of their trip to India and do some sightseeing.
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