An elderly Indian man travelled to Pakistan with his wife and brother in-law without a visa and received emergency medical treatment in a Karachi hospital last month, the Mumbai Mirror reported the other day. The treatment helped saved his life, the newspaper said.
Vasant Bondale, 76, was returning to Mumbai from a Scandinavian tour via Istanbul when he suffered a heart attack in mid-air. Bondale, a resident of Thane city in Maharashtra state, accompanied by his wife, Nalini and her brother, Vijay Phadnis landed at Karachi airport and were rushed to a private hospital. Airport authorities allowed them to enter the country without any visas or travel documentation.
“I was not scared of landing in Pakistan as the priority was to save my husband. It was of course on my mind that we had no visas, but the Pakistani authorities never brought it up. In fact, their cooperation is something that we don’t have words to express,” Nalini told the newspaper.
When Jayant, Bondale’s son, heard about his father’s heart attack, he decided to come to Pakistan too, but was unsure if he could get a visa in such a short time. “Believe it or not, I got a visa in a matter of hours,” the Mirror quoted Jayant as saying. Jayant expressed gratitude to Pakistani officials for their support.
“One of the officials even asked his wife to come to the hospital and stay with me just so that I would feel like we were in a safe place,” Nalini said. “They treated us like family.”
A cardiologist flying on the same Turkish airlines flight as Bondale , Dr Sudhir Bhate, confirmed that Bondale was having a heart attack and recommended that the patient be taken to the nearest hospital emergency.
Pilots of Turkish Airline flight TK 720 asked the nearest ATC tower- in Karachi- for an emergency landing due to a medical urgency, Junaid Kausar, manager operations for Turkish Airlines in Karachi told the Mirror.
An ambulance was ready at the Jinnah International Airport for Bondale. “The medical team rushed Vasant to the Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi. Vasant was put on a ventilator in the cardiac care unit,” Kausar added.
The Indian ministry of external affairs has also confirmed the whole episode. “Our officials in Karachi have expressed their gratitude to Pakistani authorities,” ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said.
How red cross sign is used. I thought all Muslim countries have Red Crescent instead.
That is not important
If he was Pakistani patient and having such emergency near India he might treated opposite to what Pakistan did on humanitarian bases.
Wrong answer,not a fact.All doctors take an oath to help save lives regardless of who they are and where they are from,atleast in the real world.In Pakistan,it becomes a BIG deal to be proud of.Even in a battle,if you capture an enemy soldier/soldiers and they are wounded,its your job as a medical person to help them.This is no news,if we plan to work toward a peaceful and respectful friendship,it should start here,little things make a big difference at the end.Lets not give ourselves a pat on the back,this is what the doctors suppose to do.And its not humanitarian,its basic common sense and the right thing to do.
Very good gesture by Pakistani Authorities….Humanity comes 1st….
Honestly, if you keep politics apart majority of Indians and Pakistanis are the same stock- decent, and caring people.
It is damn hard to see any difference in how people emotionally behave at any level after all people on both sides lived together for 5000+ years and have been separated only for 65 years.
Great story displaying the magnanimity of the Indus people, who NEVER lived in contiguity or WITH the Ganges people. The IVC was and is (used to be called Melhula, and now called Pakistan) distinct and separate and was almost exclusively on the banks of the Indus, when the Ganges people lived in jungles. It all on Rupee News
Pakistan Today should use the Red Crescent image –the right message has to be sent. This is a story of the Hilal e Ahmer not the Red Cross
Comments are closed.