Sunita's spinal surgery

Baby Sunita Debnath was born by caesarean section, after 2 long days of labour, on the 11th of August 2011. Her father and mother are Vikash Debnath and Beloka Debnatha from Mayapur in Nadia district. Vikash is a small scale seller of toiletries in the village and Beloka looks after the children.

Baby Sunita was born with part of the spinal column in a sack outside her body which appears as a large growth on the lower back. She has suffered immense pain from birth. She did have some antibiotic cover in the hospital but her parents were given no instruction to keep the swelling covered or clean, essential to protect from infection even in a normal environment. In the meantime Sunita's father, Vikash, took her to Kolkata to see a neurosurgeon. The doctor would not say anything until an MRI had been done.  One devotee had a contact whose relative owns and runs a diagnostic centre in Kolkata and they agreed to do the MRI and charge only 50% of the normal charge. The results of the MRI showed that Sunita was an excellent candidate for surgery with a strong chance for good recovery as there was only a very small amount of spinal cord in the swelling. Gauranga Simha Prabhu then set about raising money for Sunita's operation.

After a series of up and down trips to Kolkata and a lot of confusion caused by various doctors Sunita's back eventually became infected and she was admitted as an emergency case on the 15th of September. The surgery was performed on the 17th of September and it went well. You can see from the photo how much the swelling has reduced. She was released from hospital on the 27th of September and is now back home.

Gauranga Simha and his wife collected a fair amount of the money for the operation - R61,000/- so far - the bulk coming from South Africa and Italy, with smaller contributions from Russia and Mayapur. The balance - R25,000/-- he borrowed from various places so that money needs to be returned.

Sunita will also require a further operation to place a shunt in order to remove fluid from the brain. This will take place after approximately one week. So far we have been unable to get an exact estimation for that operation as the brain surgeon is out of station. We will keep you posted as soon as we find out exactly how much it will be but it seems it will be in the region of R50,000/-. We request all the readers to donate generously for Sunita. We will keep you updated on her recovery.

Thank you to Marc Stern for his generous donation of $20.00 towards Raj Kumar's case. We really appreciate your help.

We want to thank our friend Marie Shaft for her generous donation of $50.00 towards Raj Kumar's case and $50.00 towards Usha's treatment. We really appreciate you help and will keep you posted on this.

Thank you to our friend Vijay Patel for his kind donation of $28.00 USD towards Usha's case. We appreciate your help and will keep you updated on this.

India still has highest newborn death rate

This recent article posted to the Times of India sheds light on a continuing issue faced by the country: high infant mortality rates.

While we should celebrate the amazing 33% drop in total annual newborn deaths in India from 4.6 million to 3.3 million in the last 10 years, India still has more newborn deaths per year than any country worldwide.

The work we do (with your help) to provide basic healthcare and support to families in Vrindavan is crucial to keeping these mortality rates down.

Some interesting facts from the study:

• Newborns account for 41% of all child deaths.
• Each year 3.3 million babies die in the first four weeks of life, despite proven, cost-effective interventions that could save them. Solutions are simple as keeping newborns warm, clean and properly breastfed can keep them alive.
• The three leading causes of newborn death – preterm delivery, asphyxia and severe infections – are preventable with proper care.
• The first four weeks of life — the neonatal period — carries one of the highest risks of death of any four-week period in the human lifespan.
• Only five countries account for more than half of the world's 3.3 million newborn deaths – India, Nigeria, Pakistan, China and Democratic Republic of Congo.

Please read the article we link to above for complete details. We are so grateful for your continued support!

Thank you again to our friend Sara Berggren for her kind donation of $100 towards Usha's case. We will keep you updated on her treatment and recovery.

Thank you Cheryl Giusti

We would like to gratefully acknowledge the kind and generous donation of $50 US from Cheryl Giusti towards Raj Kumar's care. These funds will help Raj Kumar to continue his monthly physiotherapy treatment and improve his health condition.