| A petition posted on the Cheong Wa Dae website calling for helping a child leukemia patient in India return home / Captured from Cheong Wa Dae website |
By Jun Ji-hye
A five-year-old Korean child, recently diagnosed with leukemia in India, arrived in Korea, Tuesday, with the help of Japan Airlines.
The child and her mother, who boarded the JAL plane at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi Airport at about 7 p.m., Monday, were able to return via Tokyo.
The child entered a hospital in Gurugram near New Delhi after suffering from a high fever. She was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia there, with her condition worsening over the next few days.
Her parents wanted to have her treated in Korea where medical-related systems are better, but there were no available flights due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Indian government has had the country under lockdown since March to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Korean nationals living India who wanted to return to Korea already retuned home in April on four charter planes.
The head of the association of Korean residents in India said a fifth charter plane could fly later this month, but there were many variables and uncertainties.
In a desperate effort to send the child to Korea, the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in India asked embassies of other countries for cooperation.
The embassy succeeded in receiving permission for the girl and her mother to take the JAL flight arranged to repatriate Japanese nationals living in India.
“We also got permission from the hospital to let the child board the plane,” a Korean embassy official said.
In a bid to help the girl and her family, a Korean national living in India posted a petition on the Cheong Wa Dae website, calling for government support.
The petitioner said, “I believe the child can recover once she receives treatment in Korea. I hope the government will do something for this child such as dispatch an Air Force transport or a presidential plane.”