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A lifeline for ailing children

Prague hospitals offer hope to young patients from Afghanistan

March 5th, 2008 issue

By Mariam Mardan

For the Post
Photo by MARIAM MARDEN
Aazar, shown here with her grandmother, was cured of a potentially fatal heart disease by doctors in Prague.
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When Aazar, a 6-year-old Afghan girl, came to the Czech Republic in December last year, she was suffering from a severe heart illness. Doctors said she could die any minute.
Today, Aazar is like any other young girl, running in the long corridors of the hospital and shouting at her grandmother to catch her.
“Before, my heart used to beat very fast,” Aazar says, demonstrating the rapid movement of her heart with her little hands. “But now it beats like this,” she says, showing the movement of her recovered heart with tiny fingers.
“I know how lucky my granddaughter is, because thousands of children need such help in our country,” says Aazar’s grandmother, who accompanied her to Prague. “We are very grateful, because such treatment wouldn’t be possible back home in Afghanistan.”
Aazar was saved by a humanitarian program called Medevac, created to help seriously ill children in war-afflicted countries. Since 1993, more than 100 children have been brought to the Czech Republic under the program’s auspices and treated here. They’ve come from war zones in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq, Chechnya, Kosovo and earthquake-damaged Pakistan.  
Last summer, the Czech government passed a bill extending its involvement in the program to include Afghanistan. This year, another 5 million Kč ($300,120) was approved for its continuation. Funding covers the costs of transporting patients and a guardian to Prague, and the cost of the treatment and housing while they’re here.
Patients from Afghanistan are selected by doctors working in the Czech field hospital there, and brought to Prague by military aircraft. The most common cases are heart-related illnesses that are curable in the Czech Republic but cannot be treated in Afghanistan.
After the necessary operations, which are done in a number of specialized hospitals in Prague, the young patients are moved to Olivova dětská léčebna, a convalescent home in Říčany. The Olivova center provides accommodations for the children and their relatives, along with rehabilitation services and whatever other medical assistance is required for a full recovery.
“I don’t want to go back home,” says Dawood, an 8-year-old boy who suffered from a life-threatening heart illness called tetralogy of Fallot. “They will force me to go to school, because my heart is fine now,” he says. “But I want to play with the boys on the street, which I couldn’t do before. Now I can run faster than them!” he adds with a beautiful child’s smile.
“He couldn’t play with children his age in Kabul because of his heart illness,” confirms Dawood’s uncle, who came to Prague to be with him during the risky operation. “But now he is so excited that he can play and run freely like other healthy children.”
While there’s a dramatic need for such specialty care, the daily routine in Afghanistan involves treating a steady flow of people injured in bombings and other attacks. The country is in immediate need of more doctors, hospitals and professional equipment.
The Czech field hospital in Afghanistan, established in 2002, operates as part of the ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) and is located near the Kabul airport. The hospital was set up to treat injured soldiers of the international forces in Afghanistan, but curing ordinary citizens has become part of its mission. Currently, about 70 soldiers and doctors serve in the field hospital at an annual cost of 150 million Kč.
Soon Aazar and Dawood will leave the Czech Republic, and another group of children awaiting treatment will arrive. “A lot of children need help, and we are really very lucky,” says Aazar’s grandmother. “I pray for other children in Afghanistan to get such help like my granddaughter,” she adds with tears in her eyes.
Mariam Mardan can be reached at features@praguepost.com  


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