Dr. Moopen’s Foundation Proves that Care Goes Beyond BoundariesFilipino child receives free heart surgery in India

Dr. Moopen’s Foundation (DM Foundation), the organization set up by Aster DM Healthcare Chairman Dr. Azad Moopen, has once again proven that saving lives has no boundaries. In a unique multi-country charity initiative, a rare cardiac corrective surgery was successfully performed on Joneil Dasain, a 5-year-old boy from the Philippines at the Aster Medcity, Kochi. Conducted under the aegis of DM Foundation’s ‘Save the Little Hearts’ initiative, the surgery was carried out by a team of Indian specialists led by Dr. Sajan Koshy, Senior Consultant, Paediatric Cardiac Surgery, Center of Excellence in Cardiac Sciences, Aster Medcity, Kochi.

Indeed, the world becomes small when we reach out to care. The ‘Save the Little Hearts’ program has been helping indigent Filipino children with Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) by providing free surgical treatment within the Aster DM Healthcare network. For the first time, a child coming straight from the Philippines is able to be flown to India for this much needed heart surgery at the world-class Aster Medcity. 

“Joneil presented with bluish coloration of fingertips and lips and problems in breathing, all resulting from the congenital heart defect known as Tetralogy of Fallot. This should ideally have been corrected in the first year after birth.  The procedure was not free from risk due to his age. But we decided to take up the challenge. The child was evaluated by our expert team of specialists and a five hour long surgery was successfully undertaken,” commented Dr. Sajan Koshy, Senior Consultant, Paediatric Cardiac Surgery, CoE Cardiac Sciences.

In Tetralogy of Fallot, abnormalities in the structure of the heart result in blood with insufficient oxygen circulating through the body causing the various symptoms like cyanosis (bluish discoloration) of nails, lips and skin, tiredness and breathlessness. If left untreated, the defect has a 50% mortality rate in the first three years of life in addition to causing delay in growth and development.

Since the program was started, the DM Foundation has helped 26 Filipino children from disadvantaged families, who cannot afford to have their children treated for congenital heart disease to undergo corrective cardiac surgery. In addition, about 750 children have benefited from the ‘Save the Little Hearts’ program across various geographies. These children, primarily from India, but also from Afghanistan and Africa have received free or subsidized treatment from Aster DM Healthcare facilities channelized through the DM Foundation and its associates including MIMS Charitable Trust and other support associations.

Dr. Azad Moopen, Founder Chairman & Managing Director of Aster DM Healthcare and Founder of DM Foundation, is a physician turned entrepreneur and philanthropist. During his early career, he had witnessed many families struggling to afford specialised treatment for many complex and critical health conditions. He founded the DM Foundation to help such patients and it is under this foundation that the not-for-profit initiatives of Aster DM Healthcare and Dr Azad Moopen’s family are being carried out.

Commenting on this unique initiative, Dr. Azad Moopen, said, “There are many children who are not able to reach their full potential because of congenital heart disease. Coming from poor backgrounds, the parents also cannot afford to have their children treated. The philosophy of our foundation is to provide quality healthcare to the deserving and make a difference in their lives. We are happy that DM Foundation has enabled Joneil to get the treatment to put him back on the path to a bright future. We look forward to helping more such children in the future through our efforts.”

Aster DM Healthcare-Philippines Country Head Joyce Alumno emphasized, “Five children are diagnosed with CHD for every 1,000 live births. Reports show that every nine minutes, a child below 15 years old dies of heart disease. We are grateful that through the selfless heart of Dr. Moopen and the expertise of our doctors in India, children like Joneil are given a chance to enjoy a quality of life like any normal child.”

“We want to do more. In fact, we have a line of possible beneficiaries needing urgent attention. However, we are unable to do so because of the long queue in the hospitals. With the success of Joneil’s case, we can now say, we can make this happen,” Alumno said.

Lance Masters, a Rotarian from the Rotary Club of Manila supported the DM Foundation and has accompanied the patient and his mother to India. He has documented Jolien’s journey to health on his Facebook page. He said, “Jolien’s free cardiac surgery has been possible thanks to a truly remarkable philanthropist, Dr Azad Moopen, who has designated 20% of his wealth to his charitable foundation dedicated to assisting poor people with catastrophic medical issues. In the Philippines, Dr. Moopen has committed to helping 50 indigent children with congenital heart defects through the DM Foundation’s ‘Save the Little Hearts’ program. I am honoured to work with the Foundation in this noble mission."

Dr. Harish Pillai, Cluster Head for Kerala & CEO Aster Medcity said, “The successful procedure is yet another testament of the exemplary skills of Aster Medcity’s talented team of doctors at our advanced world class quaternary healthcare facility. We are happy that the child is now recovering well and can look forward to lead a normal life.”

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About DM Foundation
DM Foundation is the broad umbrella under which the CSR and social activities of Aster DM Healthcare and Dr. Moopen’s Family Foundation are being carried out. DM Foundation works in tandem with associate organizations such as MIMS Charitable Trust. The activities of Dr. Moopen’s Foundation are focussed in India, Middle East, Africa, Philippines, Afghanistan etc. Various programmes of the Foundations are categorized under Free Paediatric Cardiac Surgery Programme (Save The Little Heart), Early Diseases Detection & Cancer Screening Centres (EDDCs), Community Dialysis Centres (CDCs), Radiation Oncology Centres, Doctor on Calls “Mobile Clinics”, Health & Safety Awareness Programme, Free or Subsidized Treatments, MILES Village Adoption – Socio Economic Intervention etc.

About Aster DM Healthcare
Established in 1987, Aster DM Healthcare currently owns and operates a network of more than 290 institutions across the Middle East and India, covering an array of healthcare verticals including clinics, hospitals, pharmacies, and a modern medical city. These network units are consolidated under the brand names ASTER, MEDCARE, ACCESS, ASTER Medcity and ASTER MIMS. The health facilities include 14 hospitals that offer primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary care in order to meet the requirements of people from a cross section of the society.   In 2015, Aster opened its first ambulatory care center in the Philippines.

One hundred Filipino cultural dancers say 'thank you' at World Culture Festival

100 Filipino cultural dancers performed a thanksgiving dance that wowed millions of attendees from around the world at the recent World Culture Festival, the biggest gathering for world peace that brought together people of various nationalities and faiths on one grand, magnificent global stage in New Delhi, India. The Art of Living Foundation, founded by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, organized the event in celebration of 35 years of service to humanity.

The dancers, who belong to the multi-awarded Buyogan Festival dancers from the province of Leyte, one of the areas ravaged by typhoon Yolanda, performed their celebrated dance to express gratitude to all volunteers and donors from around the world who helped their province recover from the disaster. Their attendance marked the first time that representatives from the Philippines graced a global event of such magnitude.

The millions in attendance during this the three-day event included thousands of artists, business, political and spiritual leaders from around the world. All were treated to cultural buffet of dance performances, ancient chants of peace, musical numbers, and inspiring speeches from around the world. The purpose was to celebrate harmony in diversity and love in a world that is increasingly ravaged by conflict caused by regional and religious divides.

Among those who made their presence felt were the likes of Vatican representative H.E. Bishop Marcelo, His Eminence, Grand Mufti of Syria Dr. Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun, and Rev. Gerald L. Durley, who is a good friend of US President Barack Obama. These leaders unanimously applauded Sri Sri Ravi Shankar for taking this spectacular step toward world peace.

The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, during his inauguration speech at the event highlighted Art of Living’s personality development programs and seminars that were at the backbone of this successful event – its programs uplift society by empowering  individuals and companies world-wide: “When you need to march forward in life to achieve your goals, then that is when you need to know The Art of Living …When you need the strength to overcome difficulties and troubles in life, then that is when you need The Art of Living.”

His speech was immediately followed by a string of remarkable performances that echoed the essence of peace and togetherness, as the finest talents the world over shared the stage with the international dignitaries present.  Close to 1,000 vedic scholars sang chants from ancient scriptures while captivating dance performances left everyone breathless and in awe then 8,500 musicians from the Art of Living Grand Symphony, meanwhile, mesmerized the audience with their enchanting music.

On day two of the festival, the powerful spirit of hope—together with a call to embrace diversity and oneness—stood as the key, reverberating message. The awe-inspiring presence of faith-leaders coupled with the intense response from the crowd was further encouraged by Vatican representative H.E. Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, “Buddhist, Hindus, Muslims, Jews and of course people from the religion I share, Christianity, give an incredible testimony that The Art of Living helps people to get more in whatever faith or tradition they follow. You help people to live in their faith ever more intimately and personally.”

Joel Ruiz, a film director and one of 30 others who had flown from Manila to take part in this peace celebration, recalled how he was hooked on to meditation after he attended a happiness workshop by the Art of Living in Makati. "I have come here so that I can meditate with this sea of people attending this celebration. We have to collectively aim for inner peace so that we can achieve world peace," he said.

The final day culminated with a finale number where all the thousands of international performers from all the groups including the Buyogan Festival danced simultaneously to a medley of songs making the idea of “One World Family” an experience of the audience.

Expressing his deep appreciation for the success of the festival, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said: “To all of you, who have come from nearby and faraway destinations, from different faiths and nationalities, a heartfelt thank you. It’s your faith, love and compassion that have enabled the teams at Art of Living to present the biggest and the happiest family get-together—the World Cultural Festival.”

To know more about Art of Living programs and courses which have helped millions of people manage their stress and live happier lives through its various breathing and meditation techniques, visit www.artofliving.org, or call Kim 0917-848-0063 or Harsh 0905-469-8624.


*This is Press Release