Aged 18, Masood Gull is the son of a mason, who is the only earning hand of a 12-member family living below the subsistence level in a two-bed accommodation in Sir Buland Pura, Dakhana Khas, Tehsil and District Islamabad. The young lad requires Rs. 40,000 to be able to undergo a surgical procedure involving lower compound plating of the femur. Gull is a victim of a roadside accident. He was brought to the Emergency of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences after a truck ran over the lower part of his left leg 15 days ago, and was subsequently shifted to the hospital’s orthopedic ward for surgery. For a family that lives off an average monthly income of Rs. 7,000, of which a little over Rs. 4,000 is spent on catering the monthly medical expenditure, arranging a lump sum amount of Rs. 40,000 was a Herculean task. In fact, their worries had increased ever since Gull’s hospitalization because rather than fending for the family, his father had been attending him at the hospital. The family’s inability to finance the cost of the procedure had stalled the prospects of Gull’s recovery. Had it not been for Heartfile’s Health Financing initiative, doctors would not have operated upon Gull, who himself is a student availing free education in a government school. The family’s request for financial assistance was processed within days, paving the way for Gull’s surgery. The patient is now on the road to recovery.
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