PENANG, Wed. – Thanks to the generosity of the public and the skills of surgeons at the Penang Adventist Hospital, baby S. Lekeraj will no longer suffer from breathing and heart problems.

The three-month-old baby from Sungai Dua, Butterworth, successfully underwent a four-hour long open heart surgery at the hospital yesterday after RM 12,000 was raised by the Malaysian Hindu Sagam for the operation.

His mother, housewife Balwaat Kaur, 37, said the family was grateful to all who had played a part in saving her baby’s life.

Lekeraj will have to undergo a series of follow-up checks and scanning every week for the next few months. Each check-up will cost more than RM 200.

Among those who responded to Lekeraj’s parents’ appeal for donations was the Holiday Inn Resort in Batu Feringghi here.

Its general manager Arthur Yap presented a donation of RM 5,000 to Lekeraj’s father R. Sathasivam, 48, a technician at the Penang Water Supply Corporation who earns an income of RM 1,000 monthly.

Yap said he learnt of Lekeraj’s plight after reading about it in the New Straits Times.

"It was a sudden decision as the photo of the baby in his mother's arms really tugged at my heart. It was then that I realised I could and must try to help save the baby’s life."

Yap said it had been the hotel’s policy to participate in community service programmes and to promote a caring society.

Also present was State Hindu Sangam chairman M. Navaratnam and the council’s social and welfare committee chairman P. Murugiah Mohan.