Just days before her scheduled surgery at a renowned Indian cardiac hospital, the family of 10-month-old Mishkat Fatima, who suffers from a complex congenital heart defect, was told she could no longer travel.
The Indian government abruptly cancelled her medical visa along with dozens of others, following a flare-up in tensions after the Pahalgam attack.
Her family, already burdened with emotional and financial stress, is now left without a solution for the baby girl whose life hangs in the balance.
Mishkat’s father, Farhan Ali, a resident of New Karachi, says they had finally secured a medical visa after months of struggle and were preparing to travel to MGM Hospital in Chennai, a respected facility for pediatric cardiac surgeries.
The hospital had agreed to operate on Mishkat at a concessional rate with NGO support. But the Indian government’s sudden revocation of medical visas for all Pakistani patients, including critically ill children, dashed their hopes.
“My daughter is just 10 months old and suffering from a severe birth defect. I’ve knocked on every hospital’s door in Karachi,” Farhan told The News.
At best, Aga Khan University Hospital treats her in emergencies, but even they won’t perform surgery, saying it’s too risky,” Farhan told The News.
Doctors at the SIUT also reviewed her case and advised the family to seek treatment abroad, stating, according to the family, that they lacked the necessary facility or expertise for such complex paediatric cases.
Mishkat is not alone. She is one of dozens of Pakistani patients who were scheduled to undergo advanced procedures in India, particularly complex cardiac surgeries, transplants and cancer treatment, which are either not offered or are unaffordable in Pakistan’s overburdened public hospitals.
Among them were the children of Shahid Ali, who were expelled from a hospital near Delhi just before undergoing life-saving heart surgery, and several others from Karachi and Sialkot who were denied visas for organ transplants or surgeries due to diplomatic tensions.
Indian heart surgeon Dr Bala Krishnan, a well-known name among Pakistani cardiac patients, had offered to perform Mishkat’s surgery for just INR 500,000 (approximately PKR 1.65 million), with the remaining expenses to be covered by an NGO.
Known for his work with Pakistani children, Dr Krishnan has also offered to visit Pakistan to train local cardiac surgeons. However, he insists that Pakistan must develop a robust culture of organ donation, particularly deceased donor programs, if transplant surgeries are to become a reliable option for the local population.
The federal health minister, Syed Mustafa Kamal, reacting to India’s treatment of vulnerable Pakistani patients, urged citizens to stop seeking medical help from a “hostile and unethical neighbour.”
Speaking in Islamabad, Kamal said Pakistan’s own healthcare institutions were capable of providing treatment and should be supported and improved where necessary. “India has shown its ‘ghatia pan’ by throwing out dying children. We must never forget this as a nation,” he declared.
But medical experts and patient rights advocates disagree. They say Pakistan’s public and even many private hospitals lack both the infrastructure and willingness to take on complicated surgeries, especially for congenital heart diseases and organ transplants.
Moreover, the cost of such procedures in private institutions is often astronomical for lower and middle-income families, pushing them to look across the border where skilled surgeons operate at subsidized rates through charitable networks.
Experts argue that Pakistani hospitals rarely conduct high-risk paediatric heart surgeries or offer transplant options, and that local patients are often referred abroad even by senior Pakistani doctors.
Senior public health officials now acknowledge that the matter is not only humanitarian but one of “national health security.” A senior official in Islamabad described it as disgraceful that Pakistan is trying to build health tourism to attract foreign patients while its own citizens are being forced to cross into enemy territory for treatment.
“This exposes the gaping holes in our system,” he said, calling for immediate action to assess the needs of patients seeking treatment abroad and to reform healthcare delivery across the country.
There is now a growing call from health experts for Pakistan to collaborate with Turkish hospitals and Pakistani-origin doctors working in the United States, Canada, and the Middle East to build capacity, especially in paediatric cardiac care and transplant surgery. With dozens of Mishkats waiting in the shadows, experts say a strategic response is needed—not just for national dignity, but to save the lives of Pakistan’s most vulnerable citizens.