13 medical visas issued to Pakistani nationals

India has issued 13 medical visas so far this month as a goodwill gesture to Pakistani nationals seeking treatment, including two for bone marrow transplants and a five-year-toddler suffering from eye cancer.

This follows a directive from external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, who has helped a number of critically ill patients from the neighbouring country to get visas to visit India for treatment. After being approached on Twitter, Swaraj asked the Indian High Commission in Islamabad to issue visas to the patients and their attendants.

“We are giving visa for the bone marrow treatment of your son Mohammed Shayaan Noorwala in India,” Swaraj tweeted on Tuesday in response to a request by Madni Noorwala, who said that his son had undergone bone marrow transplant and ne eded urgent follow-up treatment. On Monday night, Sushma Swaraj tweeted that a visa was being issued to Shehriyar, son of Saqib Shahzad, for a bone marrow transplant surgery in India. “There is a request for medical visa for 5-year-old child Anamta Farrukh who is suffering from eye cancer for her treatment in India," the minister said in a separate tweet.

She said she had told the Indian High Commission to issue a medical visa for the child immediately.

The Indian High Commission has also issued visas this month for the liver transplant surgeries of Baseer Imam Zaidi, Muhammad Riaz and the father of Pakistani citizen Hammad Khan. The external affairs ministry had on August 15 announced that India would provide medical visas to all bonafide Pakistani patients. This was part of Swaraj’s approach to strengthen people-to-people ties despite hurdles erected by Pakistan Army to undermine such gestures.