Less than a week after former Pakistan hockey goalkeeper Mansoor Ahmed, who needs a heart transplant, made an appeal to the Indian government to grant him visa on medical grounds, the Fortis Group of Hospitals has offered to register him for the transplant. Fortis has also assured him that the entire treatment would be free of cost. Fortis has offered Ahmed, currently being treated at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre in Karachi, treatment at its hospitals in Mumbai and Chennai.
Ahmed has already made it clear that he was not looking for financial assistance; all he wanted was an Indian visa on medical grounds after his doctor advised him to seek treatment in India. Dr S Narayani, zonal director, Fortis (Mumbai) said that the group will register Ahmed for a heart transplant in Mumbai and Chennai. “Once he gets a clearance from the government, we can get an assessment done to confirm whether he is fit enough to travel,” Dr Narayani said.
Several former India hockey stars, who got in touch with his family members after learning about his condition, said his health was “sinking.” Ahmed, meanwhile, said that he was “overwhelmed by the love received from India”. “Not just the Indian stars I played against, but people from India who I didn’t even know, have said they’ll support me. I’m now waiting for the visa to come through. I’m sure the Indian government will oblige,” he said.
A long wait for Ahmed
Even if Ahmed is granted medical visa, he’ll have to brace for a long wait, as a heart can be donated to a foreign national only when there are no Indians on the waiting list. It takes anywhere between four and six months for a foreign national to find a donor heart in India, and the hospital carrying out such a transplant has to submit an undertaking that no Indian national was overlooked in favour of the foreign national.
