Date:15/07/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/07/15/stories/2005071502031700.htm

Back France shows the way in paediatric cardiac care

Our Bureau

Hyderabad , July 14

INDIA, which is grappling with the problem of congenital heart defects in children, can perhaps emulate France in tackling it more effectively.

The fact that about 18,000 children are born with cardiac defects every year in Andhra Pradesh alone shows the magnitude of the problem.

Hundreds of such children conducted a rally in Hyderabad last year to bring home the message that the onus was on the Government.

France too faces a similar problem, though the figure is relatively small.

Every year, 2,000-3,000 children are born in France with cardiac problems. "There are 10 dedicated centres to take care of them, with each of them attending to 300 new cases every year," said Dr Alain Serraf, Head (Dept of Paediatric Cardiac Surgery at Marie-Lannelongue Hospital in Paris.

The social security plan there covers all of France's population. While the Government takes care of the new-borns with cardiac problems, a philanthropic network called Mecenat mobilises funds to help such children from Africa and East Asia. "After identifying patients, they will be flown to France and admitted to hospitals," he said.

Families, doctors and hospitals do volunteer to attend to such patients. To cut costs, patients would be transferred to hospitals that are less costly a day after the surgery, Dr Serraf told newspersons.

Dr Serraf is in the city to take part in the seventh annual conference of PCSI 2005 (Paediatric Cardiac Society of India). The three-day conference, beginning on Friday , will have world-renowned doctors showcasing live procedures of complex paediatric cardiac surgeries.

Dr Serraf would demonstrate a new approach in performing an open-heart surgery. Unlike the traditional procedure of cooling the body, the new approach would be performed maintaining the normal body temperature.

World-renowned paediatric surgeon, Dr V. Mohan Reddy, of Stanford University, US, would showcase `single stage unifocalisation' in a complex case.

Dr K.S. Murthy, organising secretary of the conference and Chief Paediatric Cardio Thoracic Surgeon at Apollo Children's Heart Hospital, said most of the cardiac defects can be corrected. "Only 10 per cent of the 2,000 cases are being attended to in the State. The rest go undetected and ultimately become inoperable," he pointed out.

"If we can detect the problem in the first month, we can save a lot of lives," he said.