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Medical Tourism Testimonials - Karmal Health

Our Patient Memoirs
Pediatric Cardiology Testimonials

Patient’s Name: Matt Foster (Tennessee, USA)

Procedure: VSD closure (Pediatric Cardiology)

Consultant: Dr. V. Kohli

 

Miranda and Ted Jr. welcomed their third child, another son, Matt, to their family. Matt was a happy baby who appeared to be eating well and growing normally. At his second month pediatrician appointment, the doctor thought she heard a murmur in Matt’s heart and suggested his parents to follow up with a pediatric cardiologist.

Matt’s parents took him to Rainbow Babies Hospital, Tennessee and were shocked to learn that Matt had two cardiac defects.

Matt had an atrial septal defect (ASD), which is a hole between the left and right atriums and a large ventricular septal defect (VSD), which is a hole between his left and right ventricles. As a result of these defects, much of the blood that was supposed to be sent to his body was being sent back to his lungs. His lungs were getting flooded and his heart was working hard to get blood out to his body.

Matt was immediately admitted to the hospital. Shortly after Matt was admitted to the hospital, he began to show typical symptoms of VSD including lack of energy and visibly labored breathing. Within three weeks, Sean went from the 50th percentile in weight to the third. Doctors needed to act quickly.

Doctor’s continued to monitor Sean’s health and decided that they would surgically place a patch in Matt’s ventricle that would permanently repair the hole. Unfortunately, Matt developed Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) a serious respiratory illness that affects children. The RSV prevented Matt from being strong enough for surgery because he would not be able to tolerate the heart lung bypass machine that would function for his heart and lungs during the surgery.

But there was only one concern. Ted’s insurance policy doesn’t cover Matt. If the life saving procedure would have performed, it could cost too high to Miranda and Ted to afford.

Ted had no options but to sell his house to save Matt’s life. Miranda had also applied for the loan but seemed to be working fine. In the rage of disappointment, Miranda started looking for help on the web. She requested people to donate money for her son’s surgery. One day Miranda watched ‘60 Minute’ on television and saw the story of a few Americans who went India, to Apollo Hospital and saved almost 10times the money had spent in India.

Miranda remembers that day as one of the pleasant days when she found the hope for her son. She reached karmal.org and sent Matt’s reports to them. In an hour she received a call from a pediatric cardiosurgeon from Apollo Hospital, New Delhi. Dr. Vikas Kohli described Matt’s condition as critical that required ASD, VSD closure as soon as possible. Karmal made the travel arrangements for Matt and his parents. An air ambulance was required for Matt to come to India. Karmal representative, Alok, expedite the process of booking an air ambulance from Tennessee to New Delhi, India.

Matt and his family reached Apollo Hospital after three days of Miranda’s initial conversation with Dr. Kohli and Alok. The cardiac surgery package offered to Matt was of USD19630, that included the air fare of the air ambulance, 12days stay in India and the cost of the surgeries and medicines.

Dr. Kohli and his team started their work. While still open chest surgery, it did not require the heart lung machine. After the surgery, Matt spent about a week in intensive care and 5days in the hospital.

Miranda said that throughout his hospitalization, the team at Apollo Hospital was fantastic to her entire family. “When we brought Sam our eldest son to visit Matt, the nurses would unhook Matt from as many machines has he could tolerate for half an hour and they would take Sam to the play room. The entire nursing staff and the doctors used to speak good English. We were served with good American cuisine everyday. Everybody was very helping, especially Alok, who made our travel arrangements, booked appointments for us and made sure that we were not bothered of anything except my son’s health. Alok took the burden of 1/3 of my worries. It really made a huge difference to our family to have everyone recognize that the entire family was going through this experience, not just Matt.”

Within six days, Matt was home and doing well. He continued to gain weight, had learned to crawl and is still developing a wonderful personality. While his actual first birthday occurred during his recovery from the surgery, his parents are planning a large and celebratory first birthday party for him.

 

“I just can’t say enough about how wonderful the doctors, nurses, Alok & Karmal are” said Miranda. “We were just completely impressed from one end to the other of all the care and attention we received. Everyone just led us from one thing to the next, We were never left to fend for ourselves.”

 

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The Cancer Story

Patient’s Name: Hiyam (Najaf, IRAQ)

Procedure: Distal Pancreatectomy & Splenectomy for Pancreatic Cancer/ Chemotherapy

Consultant: Prof. Igor M. Sauer (Surgical Oncology)

Prof. P.M. Chlag (Medical Oncology)

 

Patient, Hiyam Sear Adnan Khalil was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer - an adenocarcinoma in the tail of her pancreas. The 55years old, mother of two young girls wanted to do only a few things in her life. In her own words, she wanted to see her daughters graduated from the university, wanted to see them married, see their children and wanted to play with them, wanted to attend her grandchildren’s wedding and wanted to see her great grandchildren. Hiyam’s world was devastated as her, a few things had become like an impossible dream for her. Her husband, Adnan Khalil an oil dealer in Iraq wanted to fulfill all her dreams, her wish to live long. Adnan first heard about Karmal, from his doctor, Dr. Mohammed Jabber Al Kureshi, an oncologist in Iraq who diagnosed Hiyam with the cancer.

For Hiyam and Adnan, Dr. Mohammed contacted Karmal. Karmal representative gave them an option for Charite International Hospital & University, Berlin, Germany. Adnan agreed to it. Karmal arranged the call to Dr. P. M. Chlag, a leading medical oncologist from Charite International, who asked for the medical history of Hiyam. Dr. Chlag reviewed the reports and asked Hiyam to visit the hospital. Karmal made the necessary arrangements for Hiyam and Adnan’s visa and travel. Both of them reached Germany with the great hopes and expectations. Karmal representative, Reese who worked as an interpreter as well also accompanied them.

The team of the leading oncologists- Prof. Sauer & Prof. Chlag conducted a surgery for Hiyam. She had a distal pancreatectomy and splenectomy during which they got out the entire tumour, they could see along with 80% of pancreas and all of spleen. Luckily no metastases were present and only one of the lymph nodes was affected. The surgery went well and after 2weeks Hiyam was discharged from the hospital. Prof. Chlag advised Hiyam to take chemotherapy sessions to avoid the recurrence of the tumor. On the advice of the doctor, Hiyam decided to take 6months chemotherapy cycles, for that she had to keep coming to Charite after every 3weeks.That was again difficult for Hiyam, so that she decided to stay in Germany for that duration. Karmal made this possible by working on her visa extension and made arrangements for their accommodation.

As predicted by the oncologist, she tolerated chemotherapy very well with no complications. After 3cycles, Hiyam showed tremendous improvement and doctors declared that she doesn’t require chemotherapy anymore.

 

“When the doctor informed us that Hiyam had Pancreatic Cancer and had very few hope to live (I discovered that only 1 in 20 (that’s only 5%) of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the body or tail of the pancreas can actually be operated on), she told the doctor that there were only a few things she needed to see, really needed to be alive for,” describes Adnan.

“She said, ‘I need to see my daughter graduate from college, both of my children get married and I need to see grandchildren. I need to attend their birthdays, their weddings and to present at the birth of my great grandchildren. These are the only things I ask that you keep me alive for—for as long as it takes.’”

“From that day to her surgery, I have prayed to the Allah, for Hiyam and for her dreams of a long life. May she lives for hundred years. Till that day I only prayed for her but since that day I have prayed for all those who helped my wife and me to realize her dreams. I am thankful to Dr. Chlag & Dr. Sauer who saved her life. May peace be upon them!”

“But above all I would like to thank Dr. Mohammed and Reese from Karmal. In my country it is said that a camel is more precious than the water. Water saves your life in the desert but the camel shows you the way to reach an oasis. Karmal was like a guiding star that shows you the correct way to your destination. Shukran.”


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Maraya Ludwig (Boston, USA), Gastric Bypass Story

Patient’s name: Maraya Ludwig (Boston, USA)

Procedure: Gastric Bypass Surgery

Consultant: Dr. S. B. Singh

 

Maraya was 127.46kg when she decided to undergo the weight loss surgery. She decided to loose her weight after her father’s sudden demise due to a heart attack. Maraya said that nobody in her family took care of themselves and all were over-weight. Her father’s death was an eye opener for her. She wanted to live long and healthy for her kids and for herself. Weight management programs never worked for her so she decided to take an alternate way to reduce weight and get back into the shape.

Gastric bypass surgery sounded the best option to Maraya, but there were certain challenges. US clinics offered the surgery for more than USD50000. Maraya’s insurance company denied the insurance claim for any cosmetic surgery. Conscious for health and desperate to get back into the shape, Maraya chose to travel abroad for the surgery. She decided to come to India as she trusted Indian doctors and had seen gastric bypass surgery video performed by Dr. S. B. Singh. Maraya contacted karmal.org to discuss her case with Dr. Singh. After reviewing her case Dr. Singh asked Maraya to come to India. Initially she was reluctant to ask about the cost of the surgery. Karmal quoted USD12000 that included her air-fare, 10 days of stay in India (4days in hospital), her meals, and a rejuvenation trip to Taj Mahal. What else, she got her peace of mind and regained her health.

 

“I was not always overweight. But I did not give any thought to what I ate or to the activities I was doing. When I in university, I gained weight quickly. By the time I was 20 years old, I was up to 160–170 pounds. That same year, I got married and by the time I was 21 I was pregnant, and I gained more weight. I had my second child when I was 22. The next thing I knew I was morbidly obese. At my heaviest I was anywhere between 250–281 pounds. That is a lot of weight on my 5’2” frame.

My dad died a month after my daughter’s first birthday. He was 53 years old and died of a massive heart attack. He never took care of himself throughout his life. He was hypertensive and diabetic. I never got to say goodbye, and my children never got to know their grandfather. That is when I drew the line against my obesity.

After my dad’s death, I started to realize that I was almost following my father’s footsteps. I was short and round like him, and I was heading in the same direction. I did not want to leave my kids and my family that early. That is when I started looking into weight loss surgery as physical training and diet was not for me. I never had the patience to do so.

It took me a couple of years to come to my decision. I wanted to try to lose weight on my own. After many failed attempts I went to a seminar to learn more about my options. It took me another year after that to set up a consultation with my surgeon. Once I met with the surgeons, everything fell into place except one. The cost of surgery was too high. I am being a housewife with a limited source of income for the family couldn’t afford such a costly surgery. Then a friend suggested looking over the internet for the alternates. I saw a video of the surgery performed by Dr. Singh. I wanted to talk to him as it was mentioned there that the India is the most affordable and reliable destination for healthcare. I send my query to the website, Karmal.org and I received an instant reply. The karmal representative, Joyce explained to me why Karmal was the right choice for me, and I completely agreed. Joyce quoted USD12000 as the cost of the entire trip and the surgery.

Unlike my previous decisions, this was quick as I was convinced to go to India. My travel arrangements were made by Joyce. When I reached India, I was welcomed by Joyce. I couldn’t imagine that I was meeting the same person I used to talk to. I was taken to a nice, luxury hotel and then to the Hospital. I found Dr. Singh highly qualified and skilled clinician. My surgery was planned for the next day. After the surgery, I was in the hospital for 2more days. Joyce was constantly there with me. Two days after, Joyce took me to Taj Mahal, it was fun. I enjoyed every bit of it, when I asked if there were any charges for the same, she replied that it was complimentary. So much in USD12000, that was great.

My life has changed in more ways than I had anticipated. I have so much more energy now. My kids and I will go for walks and bike rides. I can help my kids practice their sports and last more than 5 minutes. I am not tired all day at work. I can fit comfortably in an airplane seat. I do exercises that I enjoy—like hip-hop dancing. Something I really enjoy now is exercising! My husband and I do a lot more things with each other and with the kids because I have the confidence to go out into the world and enjoy it. It has been a lifestyle change, and a great one at that.

Thank you karmal, Joyce and Dr. Singh along with his qualified and supportive staff for not only changing my life but my views towards the life."

 

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Beth Cosmetic Surgery - Colorado,USA (Name Changed)

Procedure: Breast Augmentation

Consultant: Dr. S. B. Singh

 

Beth contacted Karmal in the month of July, 2009. That summer became much more beautiful for her with her newly gained amazingly fascinating body. Tired of her tomboy image, Beth started looking for an option on the internet. She is an insured American but since it was a cosmetic procedure, she was looking for an affordable alternate. Beth watched a video by one of the leading cosmetic surgeon from India, Dr. S. B. Singh on Karmal. It took her 20minutes to decide that she wanted to go to India for her breast augmentation surgery. Karmal arranged Beth’s medical tour and surgery at USD10500.

 

Beth recalls her experience as truly amazing and incredible.

“I am the only girl in my family of four brothers and my father, spent my childhood with my brothers and adolescence with the gang of guys. In all, I was a dude!

I didn’t realize that I am a girl till that prom night in High School. I saw my best friends hanging around with other girls, my brothers asking my classmates for a date. I was left alone. That was disappointing. I never had any girlfriends so I couldn’t ask anyone what it was all about. Days after that night, I asked one of the girls in my class whether something wrong with me. What she said had shaken my world upside down. She said nobody considered me as a girl as I was flat like a board and I used to hang around with guys. So that was horrible and well, I started wanting them when I was young, around the time most girls start to develop them and I never did.


It seemed as if every one of the girls had them, every woman I was surrounded with had them except me. When it came to dating in high school, I wouldn't have courage to date any guys from my own school, for fear they would tell everyone. It took me long to date someone. I dated guys from different schools and would never let them touch or even get a glimpse at them. I was so insecure and felt awkwardly inadequate.

I was 26 and the feeling of inadequacy was killing me. I was doing well in my life, had a good paying job but no boyfriend. So I decided to get the implants. I was very sure that I need that surgery. It was not only the sense of being incomplete but my confidence was dipping down by every passing day.

Looking for a good surgeon was not a tough task, but managing your finances was the one. I started meeting consultants, contacted clinics & hospitals, read blogs by the surgeons. Every doctor, hospital or clinic I talked to gave me a quote of USD45000 to USD67000. It was beyond my reach. My insurance company had also rejected the surgery as it was a cosmetic surgery and is not covered by them.

Tired of all this I started searching internet to meet the girls like me. I couldn’t find any of them instead I found something else. I saw a medical facilitator Karmal.org on the internet. They have a video of a doctor performing the surgery of one of the patients facilitated by Karmal. I contacted them and they arranged a callback for me, from the same doctor, Dr. S.B. Singh. It was impressive. When I asked for the cost of the surgery, they send me a quotation of USD10500 all inclusive. It was a relief.

Now what all I had to do was to take a flight to India and get the surgery done. I came down to India and was received by a Karmal representative, Pankaj. He then dropped me to my hotel. It was a five star accommodation and was included in the package. Next day we went to meet the doctor. The surgery was planned for the evening. Dr. Singh explained me the procedure and also told me all pros and cons of it. I had prepared my mind for it because it wanted it.

After the surgery Dr. Singh explained the details of the surgery, he also showed me the video of my surgery. I was somewhat nervous, anxious but was excited to see the results. The first time I looked at them I can't even describe how ecstatic I was! I had something that I've always dreamed of, always wanted. After ten days I returned to my country with a new me full of confidence and a new found feeling of beautiful looks.

I am so thankful to Dr. Singh who help me to regain my confidence and myself. It will not be fair to forget mentioning about Pankaj from Karmal who helped me finding a right doctor and being with me constantly for my days of recovery. Thanks Pankaj & thank you Karmal.

 

DISCLAIMER: THIS PATIENT DOESN’T WANT TO REVEAL HER IDENTITY. HER NAME HAS BEEN CHANGED HERE.

 

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THE INFERTILITY STORY

THE INFERTILITY STORY

 

Patient’s name: Mrs. Hadiza Abubakar Sadiq (Kebbi State, Nigeria)

Consultant Name: Dr. Vijay Kakkar, Dr. Seema Bansal, (Gynecology)

Dr.B.L.Pathak (Laproscopic Surgery)

Procedure done: Ovarian Cyst & Multiple Fibroids Removal

 

Hadiza Abubakar is only 20 years old. In June 2009 she suffered a miscarriage of her 28 weeks old gestational pregnancy. Since then she could not conceive and was put on several medications. Her ultrasound reports suggested a benign ovarian cyst. Her treatment at Bernin Kebbi, Nigeria was not going very well. Her husband, Abubakar Sadiq decided to get her treatment done in India. They contacted Karmal with there reports, hoping that at least someone would have the solution of there concern. On 17, March 2010, Hadiza and Abubakar came to India. There Visa invitations were sent by Metro Heart Institute with Multispecialty Hospital. Dr. Vijay Kakkar and Dr. Seema Bansal took over the case and found that there was much more than an ovarian cyst. Hadiza was diagnosed with multiple uterine fibroids. The team of doctors decided to perform a laparoscopic surgery and then medical management to remove the cyst and its recurrence. Both the cyst and fibroids were removed successfully. The couple also wanted to get the IVF done but the doctors suggested that it would be too early to do that. Hadiza and Abubakar left India after 10days of her treatment and surgery.

 

Before leaving for Nigeria, Hadiza and Abubakar said, “In my part of the country, if a married female is not capable of giving a successor to the family, the man should look for an alternate. My marriage with Hadiza was about to ruin.”

“He being the head of our community (Mai Arewan Jafije Na farko), Kebbi state, people expect a lot from Abubakar. We are married to each other for three years but have no children. My earlier pregnancy was terminated as I had ovarian cysts. But this couldn’t be the excuse. My husband couldn’t explain it to everyone who asked him about me. People had also suggested him for second marriage. It was a terrible thought. We love each other and always want to be together no matter what it takes.” Hadiza burst into tears while saying this.

“When my husband first talked to Mel, from Karmal, he said that we don’t have time to waste. He wanted to take me to India for the treatment. What seemed impossible in our country was an ordinary surgery in India. When I asked him for the cost of treatment, he said it’s affordable. We got our visa in one day from the Indian High Commission, Abuja, because of the Visa Invitations sent by the hospital. We took a flight to Addis Ababa and then to New Delhi. It was a long journey but we both were thrilled and wanted to meet the doctor as soon as possible. Mel received us at the airport and took us to the hospital directly. We got to know that Mel had forwarded my reports to Dr. Vijay Kakkar, who had already decided the treatment for me. Hospital was very big and clean, doctors were very friendly and Mel was extremely supportive. An ultrasound was done again as the doctor wanted to review the current situation. Reports were not favorable and it found uterine fibroids along with the ovarian cyst. My hopes sank again. But the doctors told me that it was curable and since I am too young, my recovery will be very fast. Both the surgery and the post surgical process went well. Fibroids were surgically removed whereas the cyst was removed by the drugs. Doctors gave me the brief medication and assured my husband and me that I can conceive naturally.

I am thankful to Allah and grateful to my doctors, Dr. Kakkar, Dr. Seema Bansal and Dr. Pathak for not only treating my problem but for saving my life and my marriage. We will never forget Mel from KARMAL who became our constant partner throughout my treatment.”

 

 

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