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Archive - Archive 2004 - July 2013

Family grateful to UAE for saving baby’s life |03 November 2012

Family grateful to UAE for saving baby’s life

Baby Carlos with his parents and PS Laporte

The Ministry of Health joined Nadya Ciseau and Francis Marie – the mother and father of two-month-old baby Carlos Marie who was on September 24 flown in an air ambulance sent from, and at the expense of the United Arab Emirates to take the family to the Sheikh Khalifa Medical City – in thanking the President, the government and medical staff who operated the then 6-month old baby.

All this became possible thanks to the close links that President James Michel has with the UAE President.
The parents and the principal secretary in the ministry Veronique Laporte said without the urgent intervention by President Michel and the speed with which the UAE responded, the baby would not have made it.

Saying Carlos is now in stable condition and only needs further checkups, the PS and parents also thanked the staff of the Seychelles Hospital “without whom we would not even have known he had the heart problem”.

They said the local staff did their best to stabilise the baby and in briefing the UAE team who came over to accompany the family back to the UAE, appreciating the close links President Michel has with Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the personal roles they played in saving the baby’s life.

They were also grateful for the support they got from Seychelles ambassador to the UAE Dick Esparon.

Ms Laporte said every effort is made to give all Seychellois the best and immediate medical help available when needed, and patients are often airlifted to other countries, but Carlos’ condition was highly specialised and it was only with the speed and facilities of the Cleveland-run UAE hospital that the baby could have been helped under the circumstances.

Ms Ciseau said all the costs of her stay and Carlos’ treatment were met by the UAE and Mr Marie told Nation he stayed at a nearby hotel to be with them, also at the expense of the UAE.

It is to be noted that this is not the first time that the UAE assists Seychelles in such circumstances. Another clear example of Sheikh Khalifa’s generosity and compassion was when he offered for free a flying ambulance to transport a boy and a girl who needed specialised treatment following a bus accident on Praslin in June 2010.

They were also treated without charge at the Sheikh Khalifa Medical Centre in the UAE which has very modern facilities.

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