Kerala hospital: Will repay TN girl with free surgery

TRICHY: Help came pouring in for 12-year-old Akshaya of Karur who, in a rare humanitarian gesture, donated 25% of the fund crowdsourced for her heart operation towards Kerala flood relief.

While the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), in Thiruvananthapuram has come forward to perform the surgery free of cost, donations to the tune of Rs85,000 were also received by the girl in the last couple of days.

SCTIMST director Dr Asha Kishore said, “We learned that she had donated a portion of the money that she saved for her surgery towards Kerala relief fund. We are trying to track her and help her with the surgery,” she said. Akshaya’s kind deed was reported by TOI on Wednesday. Suffering from a congenital heart disease, the girl decided to donate Rs5,000 towards the Kerala relief fund from the Rs20,000 she could crowdsource with the help of her friends.

Monetary support pours in for Akshaya, Rs85K in account

However, she requires Rs2.5 lakh for her heart operation scheduled for November. Touched by her selfless contribution, many came forward with monetary support. A total of Rs85,000 has been transferred to her account by many unknown people. Some others have promised to bear the full expenses of her operation.

A Sadik, who has been helping Akshaya to crowdsource the funds, said the family had been overwhelmed by the response of the people as often many would only inquire about her but rarely come forward to help. “But here we could see unknown people transferring money to Akshaya’s account while acknowledging her selfless gesture,” he said adding that her mother Jothimani was in tears on seeing such an outpouring of support.

Hailing from a poor family, Akshaya was raised by her mother who is an anganvadi worker. Losing her father to an accident about six year ago, the family of two have been struggling to make ends meet. Her congenital disease was posing a threat to her life and the family was left to fend for itself for the operation.

“It was after much struggle that we could source the Rs3.5 lakh needed for Akshaya’s operation last year in November. Another Rs2.5 lakh is required now for her second and final operation. By no way we could have sourced such a huge amount. We express our gratitude for extending such unconditional support,” Jothimani said.