Helping Hand facilitates surgery for 9-yr-old girl

Hyderabad: A nine-year-old girl, Safura suffering from Brain TB and hydrocephalus (fluid accumulation in brain) was saved in the nick of time. Doctors at Osmania General Hospital (OGH) informed the parents that ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt was not available at the hospital and the vendor who supplied the equipment too had run out of stock.

This was informed on Sunday and the surgery was slated for Monday morning at 11 am. The volunteers of Helping Hand Foundation, an NGO that helps needy patients started searching for the shunt since Sunday evening and continued their search till midnight without success. On Monday morning at 7:30 they managed to get a shunt and handed it over to OGH authorities.

The VP shunt helps in relieving pressure on the brain caused by fluid accumulation. It treats the condition called hydrocephalus. This condition occurs when excess cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) collects in the brain’s ventricles. CSF cushions the brain and protects it from injury inside th skull. Hydrocephalus is common among infants and is caused by overproduction or lack of absorption of cerebral fluid in the brain.

Doctors at OGH were a relieved lot when the Helping Hand Foundation managed to procure a shunt by 10:30 on Monday morning. The girl was in discomfiture as the excess fluid was causing headache and loss of vision. the surgery was completed by 2:30 pm. and the girl’s condition is now stable, informed doctors. A medical store owner at Khairatabad said, “The VP shunt is a common surgical instrument and is used widely by neuro surgeons. However, doctors now-a-days prefer imported ones.”

Suman Gupta of Kailash Medical store at Sultan Bazaar said, “The Uphadyaya shunt that was once popular and effective is for unknown reasons is not favoured by the medical community.” Dr Ravi Kiran, a private practitioner said, “It has become fashionable for doctors to insist on imported surgical equipment when Indian ones are as good and come at a much lower price.”

Mujtaba Hasan Askari, founder, Helping Hand Foundation said, “Luckily we were able to get a shunt. One does not know what would have happened otherwise.” “The surgery is usually conducted in well-established hospitals, but it should be available in community medical centres as well. The lack of facilities and equipment even in minor surgeries could become fatal,” said Dr Ravi Kiran.