Page 38 - Fiji Traveller 2023 Issue 5

Photos (L-R): The Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Children's Hospital, A visiting medical team at work, Baby Meiva Raikanawa and her family at her 'Gift of Life' ceremony, Dr
Krupali Tappoo.

BUILDING

AN EDIFICE

OF

On the Suva seawall at Nasese, a huge heart faces out to sea. was there with the child. And she said, 'Oh, Jesus has saved my
The site of the Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Children's Hospital, it child.’ And then she just started weeping. She kept crying for a
is a symbol of the passion a family and the community they have really long time.
built, have brought to caring for Pacific children with congenital “So we said, ‘Tell us a bit more.’ She explained to us how, ever
heart defects. since her son was born, every couple of months they were in and
Established by the Sai Prema Foundation, which is inspired out of hospital. [Baby] was sick with chest infections, not feeling
by the humanitarian work of spiritual leader Sri Sathya Sai Baba, well, a lot of challenges. And eventually, it was picked up that he
the hospital opened in April 2022 and builds on the work of a had a lesion in his heart. She was told, 'Okay, he needs surgery.'
children’s health screening centre and medical centre operated And she said, ‘Oh, please, you know, operate’, but was told, 'We
by the foundation next door, and other programs, such as a don't have that, we can’t do it here, you have to go overseas',
national feeding program, blood drives, dental checks, and rural and she was told it would cost up to $100,000.
medical outreach efforts. “This single mother works, her household earns $5,000 a year.
Since April last year, international medical teams visiting the She tried her best to raise some funds, raised $5,000, but got to
hospital have given 246 children free heart surgeries. the point where she realised that there was no way she could
Those operations had been performed, less frequently before raise that much money. And what she said really hit us hard.
the hospital opened. The turning point came, Hospital Director, She said, ‘So I realised that I will just quit my job, go back to the
Dr Krupali Tappoo says, when the impact of those surgeries village and spend time with my son waiting for him to die.’
became evident. “So we sort of thought to ourselves, this is so sad, how can this
“When we do the surgeries, at the end we have a ‘gift of life’ happen? If these children had access, no parent would have to
ceremony, where after the surgeries, before the child goes feel this way. And because money is a factor, if you have money,
home, we give a certificate, we give them some gifts, and we're your child would live. And if you don't have money, your child
acknowledging that they've got a new life, because many of will die.”
these children would not make it if they didn't have the surgery. The World Health Organization says that 1% of all children
“There was a one-and-a-half-year-old child, and this mother born are born with congenital heart defects. Dr Tappoo says

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