Dubai: A jobless Pakistani man who desperately sought help for a life-saving heart surgery has successfully undergone a six-hour operation, thanks to the generosity of XPRESS readers.
Doctors performed the urgent electrophysiology study and ablation on Abdul Aziz Abdul Hameed on April 15 after his family managed to pay Al Qasimi hospital the Dh75,000 they received in donations.
“I am grateful to all those who came forward to help me. I remain indebted to them for saving my life,” said the 64-year-old, now recuperating from the surgery.
Shazia Abdul Aziz, the eldest of his three children, said: “One man who wouldn’t reveal his identity gave Dh25,000. We can’t thank them enough but may Allah bless them all.”
Abdul Hameed suffered from heart rates of above 200 (normal: 60 to 100 beats) and had been on a defibrillator for a year. “He needed the procedure done within weeks to save his life,” said Dr Mohammad Magdy Abbas, consultant cardiac electro-physiologist, Al Qasimi Hospital.
On April 3, XPRESS reported how Abdul Hameed, who once returned half a kilo of gold and thousands of dirhams he found in the private taxi he drove in 1985, had fallen on hard times. Having retired as a cash desk clerk owing to his ill health, he was incapable of paying even a fraction of the initial Dh40,000 the hospital had initially quoted for his operation. Following the XPRESS report, readers contributed toward paying expenses for the surgery.
