Kalam gives new life to little Abdul Kalam

President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has added many more productive years to the life of Abdul Kalam. He helped save the life of namesake teenager h...

President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has added many more productive years to the life of Abdul Kalam. He helped save the life of namesake teenager hailing from a remote village in Tripura.

Using his pet telemedicine project, the President had a strange encounter when he was in Tripura. In the course of his interaction with villagers through a telemedicine link, he was surprised to hear a feeble voice saying ‘‘Namaste, this is Abdul Kalam speaking Rashtrapathiji.’’ It took some time for the President to realise that the boy at the other end was also an Abdul Kalam.

The initial laughter soon gave way to deep concern for the boy when the President realised that the 14-year-old was actually suffering from a clogged valve in the heart due to severe rheumatic fever he had since seven years of age.

The President immediately asked doctors of the CARE Hospital in Hyderabad who run a cardiac centre in a government hospital in Agartala to take care of the boy and give him all the treatment.

Kalam was recently flown to Hyderabad where doctors performed a valvuloplasty. Little Kalam today went back to Agartala to be back on time to attend school when it opens next month. ‘‘He is fine and can lead a normal life,’’ said Dr Krishnam Raju, chairman of Care Foundation here.