PENANG, Mon: A 40-year old mother’s faith that their daughter will recover from a heart defect has borne out, thanks to assistance from a private hospital. "I just could not accept the doctor’s declaration that it was too late for my daughter Ooi Bee Hiang to seek treatment," housewife Ang Pek Chin said.

I prayed hard for Bee Hiang to get well everyday, and despite a four-year delay in corrective heart surgery, she is now recovering. Bee Hiang was diagnosed as suffering from patent ductus arterious two months after birth but Ang thought her baby did nit need immediate surgery. Neither did she have the money for it.

At the age of three, she took the child to a doctor after she fell sick,"The doctor told me that it was too late to do anything," she said. When my second daughter Yen Yen arrived, she too was diagnosed as suffering from the same heart disease. Wiser, this time I didn’t wait. She was operated in August last year. Bee Hiang’s condition worsened and she was referred to Penang Adventist Hospital, where she underwent corrective heart surgery last month. She is recovering well now.

Penang Adventist Hospital coughed out RM18,000 from its heart patients’ expenses. The hospital’s fund which incorporates an international fund, now stands at RM210,000. those who wish to contribute to the fund which benefits hardcore poor patients can send cheques payable to Penang heart Patient’s Fund, 465, Jalan Burma, 10350 Penang.