By Iana Seales
Were it nor for the persistence of George Subraj, Guyana’s first kidney transplant surgery might still be months away or longer. However, the only thing the overseas-based businessman took credit for was getting involved and seeing things through to the end of what he said was an incredible journey.
Though he emphasised teamwork, Subraj made the phone calls; met the doctors; coordinated the earlier and recent visits here and handled the fundraising. He called it “merely some of the work” but others summed it up as the work that essentially made everything happen.
Though he is well known in Queens, New York as President of Zara Luxury Apartments, very few here knew Subraj or anything of his roots as the son of a rice farmer who started working in the fields from age ten.
“I saw an opportunity to help a young man who was ailing and I did. I am sure there are many others out there but it requires a certain amount of collaboration and funds as well,” Subraj told the media at a press briefing hours after the historic surgery was completed at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
He recalled that it all started after he responded to an email one of his brothers had sent him about the “boy in Guyana who needed a kidney”. Subraj said Munesh Mangal’s story compelled him to act and to seek the support of his family and closest friends.
Shortly after, the name Dr Rahul Jindal started floating around.
Subraj subsequently met Dr Jindal and the Indian-born transplant surgeon who had never been to Guyana or the Caribbean immediately agreed to do visit the young Lusignan boy. According to Subraj, the rest is history.
What actually happened was a continuous flow of e-mails; phone calls and meetings coupled with planning and coordinating both in the US and in Guyana. Though he still speaks of the surgery with pride, he cannot finish a sentence without mentioning the name of a friend or relative who worked tirelessly along with him to see it happen. However, his major praises are repeatedly sounded for the medical team.
“Munesh’s case was unique in that through him, I hope to open the door to help others who are confronted with a similar situation or having to find huge amounts of cash for overseas medical emergencies,” Subraj said.
His opportunity to help others came immediately after Mangal had the surgery for Dr Jindal spoke of at least two other local patients he had evaluated who were also suffering from end-stage renal failure and were candidates for transplants. Subraj told reporters that he would fund a minimum of five more surgeries.
Subraj said while the need was there he would try to assist by bringing the best teams and working in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the Georgetown Public Hospital.
He made mention of working in collaboration with the Guyana Medical Watch team for close to 15 years and giving back to Guyana but pointed out that the surgery was a tremendous achievement to be a part of. In 1971, George Subraj left Guyana with US$850, which he had borrowed and journeyed to the US in search of a better life. His life in Guyana was fairly good at the time given that his family’s paddy operation had expanded into a harvesting and milling business but he had dreams of doing much more for the business.
He arrived in the US to find an environment where more working hours were demanded of him and one where courses in agriculture were few and far in between.
Subraj shifted to business studies while working in the clothing business and eventually worked his way up.
He now runs the Zara Luxury Apartments, which is an empire of 23 apartment complexes in Queens, Long Island and Florida.
In a full feature article that appeared in the Hibiscus Magazine (a publication in Queens), he recalled that his first night in the US was a cold and lonely one as he waited for hours until a friend returned home to accept him. He also recalled how difficult it was in those early years.
“I would put my milk on the window ledge in the cold to keep it from spoiling and used the warm water from the tap to make my tea and soup,” he told the magazine but pointed out that dedication, discipline and determination were his anthems.
On the day he married his wife Gloria, they were both working and after the civil ceremony they went back to work. The two later feasted on a meal she prepared: dhall, rice and potato.
Through business ventures with his brothers he was able to rise up and today his family is known for providing excellent accommodation to hundreds of families. Subraj still has tenants from 1981 when he made his first purchase.
