The Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Kailesh Kumar Singh Jagutpal, effected a site visit, Saturday morning, at the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam National (SSRN) Hospital, in Pamplemousses, to meet the Head of the Paediatric Surgery Unit and Senior Consultant in kidney transplant-Paediatric, Liver Transplant and Paediatric Surgery of the Narayana Health City in Bangalore, India, Dr Ashley Lucien Joseph D’Cruz.
Dr D’Cruz is currently on a one-week mission in Mauritius to perform complex medical interventions on children. He is accompanied by the Senior Consultant-Paediatric Surgeon, Dr Vinay Chandrashekar, and will be assisted locally during his interventions, by the Consultant in charge of Surgery and Paediatric Surgery, Dr N. Hosany, and his team.
In a statement, Dr Jagutpal recalled that it was Dr D’Cruz who took the responsibility of the surgery of the Siamese sisters, babies Marie-Cléanne and Marie Cléa Papillon, who were born in 2019 and he has been following baby Marie-Cléanne since three years. Sharing a single heart with her twin, Marie-Cléa unfortunately did not survive the surgery. The Minister indicated that Dr D’Cruz is in Mauritius to inquire about Marie-Cléanne in addition to perform surgeries and consult other patients.
Dr Jagutpal further emphasised that in order to enable Mauritian children to benefit from complex surgeries from abroad, the Ministry of Health and Wellness has decided to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Narayana Hospital of Bangalore, in India. “It is in this same hospital that baby Marie-Cléanne Papillon had undergone her surgery”, he pointed out.
In this context, the Health Minister expressed gratitude to Dr D’Cruz and his team for having extended their collaboration to Mauritius as regards the performance of complex medical interventions on children.
He stressed that in addition to catering for surgeries in Bangalore and doing follow-ups, the signature of this MoU includes the training of local specialists through exposure to the experience and skills of experts and to latest developments in the field. This will allow local specialists to acquire more knowledge in order to practice these types of surgeries in Mauritius, he highlighted.
Speaking about inoculating children aged five to 11 years against the COVID-19, the Minister stressed that a specific date for the start of the vaccination will be given after proper consultations are held with the Ministry of Education, Tertiary Education, Science and Technology and finalising all procedures.
As for Dr D’Cruz, he indicated that Marie-Cléanne Papillon is known to be the third miracle baby in the world with a split heart, to have been successfully saved by twin separation surgery. Since the surgery, the doctor pointed out, she is regularly followed by doctors such as Dr Ram Mudhoo, Neonatal Respiratory Therapist in Mauritius, who is treating Marie-Cléanne Papillon’s case in the country.
