Sister Cyril and cardiac surgeon Kunal Sarkar with little Saboo after the surgery. Picture by Amit Datta

Little Saboo Khatun now breathes easy and wears a broad smile that?s infectious. Till a couple of weeks ago, the five-year-old girl was sucking air with a lot of distress? even as her parents looked on helplessly, unable to stitch together funds for the surgery that would correct a congenital heart condition.

The second youngest among five siblings, Saboo, a child from Sister Cyril?s Rainbow Homes scheme for disadvantaged kids, was detected with an atrial septal defect (a hole in the heart?s partition), during the flurry of camps conducted on World Heart Day (September 26) by various city hospitals.

The speciality cardiac centre, which conducted the heart screening camp, spelt out the routine five-figure fee for the corrective procedure, recalls Sister Cyril. ?This child comes from a very difficult background, and for her parents who can barely make ends meet through odd jobs, getting hold of that kind of money was unthinkable,? she tells Metro.

Sister Cyril moved from pillar to post and finally found solace at Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences (RTIICS). ?One of my social workers knew Kunal Sarkar (a cardiac surgeon in the Mukundapur hospital) and we took Saboo to him. The hospital was extremely kind to perform the operation free and we are grateful for that,? she says.

?This was an eye-opener for us, since the family had all but given up and while the camp picked up the problem, the solution, sadly, wasn?t forthcoming. We discussed the case with our chairman (Devi Shetty) and clinical director Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, who decided to do the open-heart surgery to patch up the partition defect at no cost to the patient party,? says Sarkar.

While some funds were garnered through the hospital?s Guest Support Cell, the parents were counselled over several sessions so that they ?don?t write off the girl child unable to face the challenge?. Says Sarkar: ?It was gratifying to do this for Sister Cyril and we are really happy to give the child the life and future she deserves.?

The hospital is now keen to carry the thread a touch further. ?We are thinking of adopting a few girls from the Sister?s open-school programme and give them some kind of tangible work experience,? Sarkar stresses.

?Yes, they have evinced an interest in imparting nursing and paramedical skills to some of the older children. It could be extremely handy, since many of them have excellent personal skills and can take immense responsibility. I feel it?s important to look at the quality of people rather than the paper of certification they carry, while recruiting,? Sister Cyril observes.