Udesh Ragubar, the two-year-old Edinburgh, East Bank Berbice boy suffering from a heart defect, underwent open heart surgery at the Caribbean Heart Institute (CHI) Monday afternoon and he doing well in recovery.
“I feel very happy and relieved,” the boy’s mother, Urmilla Luckhoo, told Stabroek News. Luckhoo along with her husband, Rishie Ragubar, were frantically attempting to raise money for an overseas surgery for the boy. Following the publication of a story about the family’s plight by this newspaper, US-based Guyanese George Subhraj contacted the family and informed that the surgery could be done locally. Ragubar is among seven children to undergo open heart surgery at the CHI. The paediatric surgeries are a first for Guyana.
Chief Executive Officer of CHI Dr Gary Stephen told Stabroek News that the children were all doing well. Subhraj was the largest contributor in the government/ private sector venture, which is estimated to cost about US$50,000, according to Dr Stephen. On Sunday, Dr Stephen had described the venture that made the surgeries possible as a good example of government/private sector cooperation to make things happen for the children in Guyana. “In this project it was the quickest I ever saw the government work,” he said, “I got a response in two hours from the time we made the request; I don’t know how, but it happened.”
Luckhoo explained that when Subhraj contacted her it was like a dream come true. Although attempts were being made to have her son’s surgery done in Canada, the opportunity to have it done at home in a matter of days was beyond what she had prayed for. “I tell he [Subhraj] that I want it and he tell me how dem doctors very good and so on and I say okay because I want me son to live,” the woman said. She said she is now going to pray and is asking the general public to join her in the prayers for her young son.
Following the publication of the Stabroek News story, the parents were contacted and efforts were being made to have the surgery done at The Hospital for Sick Children in Canada. Pandit Suresh Sugrim of the New Jersey Arya Samaj Mandir Humanitarian Mission (NJASMHM) had informed that after reading of the child’s plight, he travelled to Canada to make the arrangements. He had applied to the hospital after receiving an email with the medical documents from the child’s mother. Sugrim had said too that a ‘Good Samaritan’ has contributed US$2,000 to help the child and promised to donate more money “as soon as we get more information,” regarding the surgery. The NJASMHM was also set aside US$500, while another overseas-based Guyanese had donated US$500 through the organisation.
The money had been deposited at a bank in the organisation’s account and was expected to be handed over to the family as soon as the arrangements are finalised.
It is not clear what will now become of the money, but the child’s mother said she had contacted Surgrim and indicated that the surgery would have been done locally. She said the pandit had no problem with the new arrangements and he indicated that he would have prayed for the child.
And she explained that the $500,000 she raised locally for the child would be used to off-set the expense for his further medical care. “I will go on TV and explain to everybody wah we do with the money,” the woman said yesterday.
It was after an echocardiogram that Udesh was diagnosed with an enlarged right ventricle as well as dilated right atrium and right ventricle. The boy had experience trouble breathing and his mother said that he would walk a short distance and would get tired and “pant for breath.” It was found that the boy needed palliative surgery, which is not available in Guyana.
The child’s father, a labourer at the Rose Hall Sugar Estate, barely earned enough to take care of his family. The couple has three other children: nine-year- old Deolall, seven-year-old Bhesham, and six-year-old Aditya.
In addition to the children, Bharrat Narine, 19, also underwent surgery. Dr Stephen said while Narine could be considered an adult, he had a congenital heart problem that needed treatment. Narine’s siblings were high in praises for the visiting medical team. They explained that their brother was diagnosed with a heart problem from birth and would take treatment. In recent times, he visited the hospital regularly and it was determined that he was in need of urgent medical treatment if his life was to be saved. “We feel very happy,” his sister Nazeema said yesterday.
