The girl who stole Sheikh Mohammed's heart in UAE

Dubai - The Tajik girl was born with a congenital heart disease, called Tetralogy of Fallot, which caused her to have four defects in her heart.

For most of her life, Mahina Ghaniva couldn't play outside with her friends or participate in rough-and-tumble play like most children her age do.
The Tajik girl was born with a congenital heart disease, called Tetralogy of Fallot, which caused her to have four defects in her heart.
It wasn't until she was five and a half years old that help from UAE doctors saved her life. Now, almost nine years old, Ghaniva is healthy, happy and grateful to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
The team of doctors who helped her was part of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Humanitarian and Charitable Establishment, which falls under Sheikh Mohammed's foundation - the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives (MBRGI).
The doctors travelled to Tajikistan on their first mission in that country in October 2017. It was then that they met young Ghaniva, who was desperate for help.
Dr Obaid Al Jassim, the cardiac surgeon who operated on her, told Khaleej Times: "We had found out that Mahina and her mother lived in a village. They were very poor and her mother and father were separated.
"We performed the operation on her and it was a procedure that took four to five hours. But, for the parents, it understandably felt longer - like it was eight hours. It was a complicated case because these kinds of cases need to be treated in the first year of the child's life, but Mahina was five and a half."
Ghaniva's recovery from her life-threatening condition also helped reunite her family.
"When the parents saw that she was better, there was hope. They came back together," Dr Al Jassim said.
The UAE doctors worked closely with the Ministry of Health in Tajikistan and the local hospital to study cases of more than 200 children who needed help.
In their 2017 mission, they treated 70 children. Their most recent mission in Tajikistan was earlier this year, where they treated 102 children.
Ghaniva was present at the annual MBRGI report launch on Tuesday, where Sheikh Mohammed heard her speak on stage about her journey and hugged him on two different occasions at the same event.
Khaleej Times captured the heart-warming moment of Sheikh Mohammed and Ghaniva in a video.
Ghaniva, is one of the 70 million people who have benefitted from the initiatives under the MBRGI.
"I want to thank Sheikh Mohammed and his foundation for helping me. I am feeling better now and I am very happy," she said on stage.
sarwat@khaleejtimes.com
 

• Dubai