Swapna at BM Birla Heart Research Institute on Wednesday. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

In a rare gesture, doctors, nurses and other employees of a private hospital have joined hands and dug into their own pockets to save the life of a five-year-old girl, suffering from multiple cardiac ailments.

Swapna Ari, daughter of a cart-puller from Barasat, would have died had the doctors at BM Birla Heart Research Institute refused to treat her for congenital heart disease, transposition of arteries, ventricle defects and other complications.

Ignoring the advice of relatives, Chittaranjan had taken daughter Swapna to the hospital and sought help from the staff. Not only was the girl admitted, Srirup Chatterjee, director of the cardiothoracic surgery unit of the hospital, carried out a marathon operation on her on November 17.

?She would probably have died without the surgery and it was, perhaps, the most complicated surgery I have done in recent times. She can now lead a normal life,? said Chatterjee.

Since her birth, Swapna had been suffering from cough and cold, accompanied by shortness of breath. Her lips often used to turn blue.

A year ago, doctors had diagnosed her condition as congenital heart disease, but her father could not get her treated due to financial difficulties. Finally, in an act of desperation, he approached the hospital.

Chatterjee opted for a technique known as ?Rastelli?s procedure?, in which the blood flow is re-routed in the heart and a conduit is placed outside to carry blood to the lungs.