The plummeting value of the yen is putting the life of a Japanese baby girl who needs to travel overseas for a heart transplant, at risk. The girl's parents and supporters are seeking donations to pay for the operation.

Doctors discovered that Sato Aoi from Tokyo, who is now aged one, had holes in her heart wall shortly after she was born. Despite undergoing two surgeries, her heart does not function. She is now kept alive with an artificial heart at a hospital in Saitama Prefecture, close to Tokyo.

Her parents decided to seek a transplant at Columbia University Hospital in New York, because it is very unlikely that Aoi would be able get a transplant in Japan anytime soon.

At a press conference on Monday, they explained that the cost of the operation has soared to around 530 million yen, or 3.8 million dollars, which is around 1.5 times more in yen terms than it was last year.

Undergoing a heart transplant overseas is known to be very expensive. This is because on top of the medical fee itself, patients have to be transported on a chartered plane, since they are put on an auxiliary artificial heart. But the financial situation worsened for Japanese nationals after the yen plunged against the US dollar.

Aoi's father told reporters, "We cannot possibly afford the operation by ourselves, but we want to do anything we can to help save our daughter's life".

There have only been 31 organ transplants in Japan from donors aged 10 or below in the 10 years through 2021. The number of donors decreased during the pandemic. As of late September, 43 patients aged under 10 were waiting for a heart transplant.