Date:16/11/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/11/16/stories/2007111653560700.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Hope for infants with heart defect

Staff Reporter

‘The children can be operated within few days or weeks of birth’

BANGALORE: One in every 100 babies is born with heart defects. Most of these children need medical intervention, either surgical or non-surgical, within the first year of life. With timely treatment, most of the heart anomalies can be corrected, said N.S. Devanand, cardiovascular surgeon, Wockhardt Hospital.

He was speaking at an event in which parents and babies who had been treated participated, here on Wednesday.

Dr. Devanand said: “Today’s technology advancement has helped early detection, thus making heart defects non-fatal. The children can be operated within few days or weeks of birth. This prevents chances of running into further complications.” Timely treatment would prevent the death of infants from heart-related problems. There was a need to create awareness among parents to get their children treated for heart-related problems, he added.

Lloyd Nazareth, Associate Vice-President of Wockhardt Hospitals, said at their hospitals, more than 150 paediatric surgeries had been successfully performed since July 2006. Of them, close to 100 surgeries had been funded by the Needy Heart Foundation, a philanthropic organisation working to bridge the gap between the needy patient and the expensive cardiac care.

O.P. Khanna, chairman of the foundation, said: “When it comes to matters of the heart, it is equally emotional and technical, more so, when it concerns a little heart. Nevertheless, these cardiac surgeries, because of the high risk and high quality standards, come at a price. Hence the role of philanthropic organisations is essential.”