Some of the children who are today expected to travel to India where they will undergo heart surgery. (Photo: Selemani Mpochi) About 20 children with heart problems leave Dar es Salaam today for Banglore, India, where they will undergo heart surgery at Narayana Hrudayalaya Heart Institute. The coordinator of the trip, Dr Rajni Kanabar of Lions Club of Dar es Salaam (Host), said yesterday that the group would travel to India as part of Lions Clubs™ Millennium Heart Surgery Project. The project was aimed at sponsoring a total of 100 children, 40 of whom had already had heart surgery in India, Dr Kanabar said. “We provided free heart surgery in December as a Christmas gift. We are now sending another 20 children to India by Air India,” he said. He added that Lions Club Dar es Salaam (host) had also sponsored surgery on 20 adults under a concessional cost of US$2,200. Dr Kanabar said today’s trip had been made possible by the positive response that Lions Club’s request for assistance had received. The benefactors included Mohammad Punjani of MP Charitable Foundation Trust in Toronto, Canada, who had sponsored 10 children at a cost of US$16,500, Dr Riyaz Hassanali, President of International Medical Relief Foundation of New York, who donated US$16,000, and Dr Kiran Patel and his wife who donated US$49,500. “Lion’s Club sends special thanks to Narayana Hrudayalaya Heart Institute for subsiding US$ 200,000 for a hundred heart surgeries, Air India, Jumbo Travel, Regency Medical Centre and the Indian High Commission,” Dr Kanabar said. (US$1=1,100/-) Source: Guardian