Pakistan toddler undergoes successful surgery in Kerala

Our Correspondent

A two-and-a-half-year-old Afghani girl holding a Pakistan passport and residing in Dubai recently underwent a rare bone marrow transplant at Aster MIMS Hospital, Kozhikode, to recover from leukaemia.
Kulsum, diagnosed with congenital acute myeloid leukaemia, had undergone four cycles of chemotherapy in Dubai. Her doctors in Dubai suggested that she undergo a bone-marrow transplant as early as possible, but the procedure was not available in Dubai. Her parents then heard about the Bone Marrow Transplant treatment in Aster MIMS Hospital in Kerala.
They had to overcome numerous obstacles to seek treatment in India with a Pakistani passport. Aster Group Chairman Dr Azad Moopen and Aster MIMS North Kerala CEO Farhan Yasin helped Kulsum and family travel to India after taking care of all legal issues.
Kulsum’s family is from Afghanistan, but when her grandparents came to the UAE decades ago for business purposes, they travelled to the UAE with a Pakistani passport as they could not travel with an Afghani passport at that time. Kulsum’s father, Mohammed, was born in the UAE and he too has a Pakistani passport.
In MIMS, Kulsum underwent intensive chemotherapy. Once her symptoms subsided after the chemo, she underwent a haemopoietic stem cell transplant or bone marrow transplant. Mohammed donated stem cells to his daughter. This was the first successful bone marrow transplant performed on such a young child in Kerala.
Dr Kesavan M.R., Consultant Haematologist, who is treating Kulsum, said she is making fast recovery after the transplant.
Moopen said that the obstacles the family chose to surmount to reach Kerala showed that Kerala’s health care has gained global attention.