Indian option gives hope to heart patients here

KUALA LUMPUR: If there is one thing that tugs at the heartstrings of Dr Patrick Lawrence, it is reports of parents appealing for donations to enable their children to undergo corrective heart surgery in private hospitals. Due to insufficient facilities and paediatric cardiac surgeons at Institut Jantung Negara and government hospitals, the waiting list for surgery is long. Time is often not on the side of young patients. As a result, many desperate parents have been forced to source public donations to fund their child's treatment at private hospitals. "No child should have to beg for funds to live," said Dr Lawrence, the medical director of MediAssist4U, an NGO providing medical care to haves and have-nots. "Our aim is to make healthcare affordable to everyone because the language of pain and suffering does not discriminate.... [read full story]