Doctors From The Children's Heart Link And Asian Heart Institue Team Up To Revive The Lives Of 10 Children With Congenital Heart Defects At The Asian Heart Institute

Special Pediatric Week: 9th April 2006 to 14th April 2006

180,000 children in this country suffer from Congenital Heart Defect, about 90,000 suffer from critical Congenital Heart Disease requiring early intervention for survival. Currently CHD accounts for 10% of Infant Mortality Rate.

Most of the congenital heart defects have no medical treatment and require either catheter based interventions or Surgery for correction. Around 75% of the congenital heart defects are simple requiring one time surgery. However, if done in appropriate time the child can have a normal lifespan. The rest 20% of the congenital defects can be corrected or palliated by appropriate surgery but in staged manner there by requiring multiple interventions and these children also do lead a reasonable quality of life and grow up to adulthood. Less than 5% of the defects are not amenable for surgery and do require either heart or heart-lung transplant.

The key determitant of the outcome is the timing of surgery, and in cases like transpositions it makes 100% mortality to 100% survival if operated in the first 3 weeks of life.

Of the required 200 programmes in India, only 14 centers exist in the whole country with not a single center in the whole of western India. The total number of dedicated pediatric cardiologists in India are around 25 while the total number of fulltime pediatric cardiac surgeons are around 15 in the whole country.

Only 7 centers in India have a dedicated pediatric and neonatal intensive care unit and personnel trained in taking care of babies with CHD.

Asian Heart Institute is the first of it’s kind to have a dedicated ‘Children’s Heart Center” which has one of the best infrastructure in the whole south east Asian region. It has facility for 8 pediatric clinics, the complete noninvasive lab including 4-D Echocardiography, pediatric TEE probe, a cathlab and a operation theater for children and a 11 bedded pediatric and neonatal intensive care unit for children undergoing cathlab procedure or surgery.

 The average cost of a open heart operation for a baby cost around 200,000 Indian rupees in India, with the nonexistence of any insurance coverage for these babies the family shares most of the financial burden while other philanthropic organizations, Charitable trusts contribute to make the treatment of these babies possible.

 It is difficult for the families of these babies to travel with the sick children for repeated time to far off programmes to seek treatment which adds up to loss of pay and additional financial burden. As of now heart disease in children is not identified as a health priority by our Government and in reality it is cheaper for families to have another baby than getting the sick one treated.

 Children Heart link an US based nonprofit organization which for last 36 years has been continuously helping children with heart diseases all over the world for their treatment by international volunteers, and help different upcoming programmes for pediatric cardiology and cardiac surgery in terms of training, collaboration, technical support and fundraising activities. They also do support a part of the expense of the surgery during their trips.

 ‘Children’s Heart Center’ at the Asian Heart Institute is collaborating with the Children’s Heart Link in making it’s pediatric cardiovascular programme of international standard. It will have the guidance of eminent pediatric cardiac surgeon Dr. V M Reddy form Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University. Dr V M Reddy  with other specialist on behalf of Children’s Heart Link  in collaboration with Dr Smruti Ranjan Mohanty and his team at the ‘Children Heart Center ‘ at Asian Heart Institute  will operate upon a dozen of kids with complex congenital defects between 10th April to 15th April 2006.

This a tribute of Dr. Reddy to his home country and his old colleague Dr. Ramakanta Panda and Dr. Smruti Ranjan Mohanty who all are  a common lineage as ex- AIIMSONIANs.