Centre, Aster Hospital give new lease of life to 62 Yemeni patients

Bengaluru: The nine-month ordeal of 62 critically ill Yemeni patients who required urgent transplants, treatment and care, came to an end, thanks to the efforts of Aster Hospitals, Bangalore, and the Government of India (GOI). Close to 120 passengers, including the patients and their families, were provided emergency evacuation from Yemen to India. Many of these patients were suffering from chronic illnesses and undergoing treatment at the hospital.

However, owing to the pandemic and the ensuing travel curbs, they had to wait for treatment. Due to the delay in follow-up care and treatment after several months into the pandemic, their health started deteriorating calling for urgent medical attention.

The patients and their families had tested negative for coronavirus before boarding the flight and after landing in Bengaluru. Out of these 62 patients, 13 suffered knee and spine injuries in the war, four needed cancer treatment, three live organ transplant, two required cardiac care. As most of these patients were immunosuppressed, they had a high risk of contracting the Covid infection and were in a highly vulnerable category. Therefore, considering the best interest of these patients amid the pandemic, Aster Hospitals Bangalore in collaboration with the Government of India undertook this mission to save the lives of the patients. Currently, more than 200 patients from African and Gulf regions have registered under this mission and they will be brought to the hospital for further treatment in the coming weeks.

Sharing his views on this initiative, D. V. Sadananda Gowda, Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India, who also played an important role in this initiative, said, "In recent years, India has been a medical destination for patients from African, Gulf and other developed countries. Our country is fast emerging as a preferred destination for medical tourism and the number of patients arriving for treatments has grown exponentially in the last several years. As we had received numerous requests from several patients from African and Gulf countries who were looking to seek treatments at hospitals in Bangalore during the pandemic. Therefore we collaborated with Aster Hospitals to ensure that these patients received appropriate medical care. We have worked hard to make sure that these international patients face minimal problems in these very trying times and have offered the best of our support to assist the hospital in facilitating their travel. We acknowledge the efforts taken by Dr. Nitish Shetty and his team. We believe that such initiatives not only help in showcasing the prowess of our country's healthcare infrastructure on a global scale but will also lead to stronger ties between the country and its neighbours."

Elaborating further on the initiative and speaking about the help received from government officials in making this initiative possible, D. Nitish Shetty, CEO, Aster Hospitals said: "Approximately half a million patients come from 30 different countries to India for medical treatment. Unfortunately, due to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, this year, a majority of these patients could not travel and are unable to get access to quality care. The drive behind undertaking this initiative was the overwhelming number of requests which patients were sending us to help them. Therefore, we reached out to the Government of India who helped us in expediting the process and eventually we identified Yemen as the country with which we wanted to pursue our initiative. We have also now tied up with other Gulf countries like Iraq and Oman and are in the process of helping the stranded patients in these countries. There are currently many more such stranded patients across the globe who require immediate medical assistance and we as a leading healthcare provider in the country are ready to serve them to the best of our capabilities."

Explaining the challenges which he faced during the pandemic, Mr. Nazir, a patient undergoing treatment at Aster Hospitals, said, "I had visited the hospital in March 2020 for a liver transplant, however, due to the unavailability of international flights, my donor was not able to reach here because of which I had to postpone my transplant and return to my country, in a critical state. Even though the medical team at the hospital had ensured continuous care through regular consultations and we decided to wait till the pandemic had subsided, however, with the pandemic continuing even after nine months, my situation started to worsen and I required an urgent renal transplant. This is when I approached the hospital and requested their assistance in making my transplant possible. I also informed them about the condition of the other patients and sought their help in bringing them to India."

"I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Aster Hospitals for undertaking this initiative. They not only stepped in to facilitate our air transport but also made sure that none of us faced any hitches in getting visas. As our country is going through a war we do not have an embassy. Hence, each time if someone has to apply for a visa they have to travel to another country namely Djibouti which is an East African country authorized to issue visas to Yemeni patients. Since there were several curbs on travelling during the pandemic, it was difficult for us to personally apply for a visa.

However, with the intervention of the hospital, we were able to overcome this hurdle and can now continue our treatment in India without any obstacles." said Gamal Ali Alkhader Mohammed who is currently undergoing treatment at Aster Hospitals.