Good Sports: Heroic Surgeons
Dr. Shital Parikh, an orthopedic surgeon at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, was part of a seven-member team who recently traveled to India to perform free surgeries on 25 children with spine and physical disabilities at the Polio Foundation Hospital in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Some American doctors make it a habit to travel to developing countries to donate their services to underprivileged patients. Parikh has organized two mission trips to his native Gujarat. “If we donate money, it would make only temporary difference,” Parikh told TNN. “If we operate with our advance tools, the difference in a child’s would be positive and permanent.”
Eleven-year-old Simran Pathan, who was born with a congenital spine deformity, recently had surgery performed on her, free of charge, by a US team. Said her father, Imran, “Private hospitals quoted Rs. 5 to 7 lakhs for the surgery. I barely earn Rs. 6,000 per month. I could not afford surgery for my girl even if I sold myself.”
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