Little hearts suffering from complex cardiac conditions

Little hearts suffering from complex cardiac conditions
now ready to lead a healthy life”
~ children from interiors of Madhya Pradesh
have undergone heart surgery at Fortis Hospitals~
Bhopal, 25 Nov 2010: It is happy days again for these bright little kids who are now all set to go back home and start a healthy life. These 13 little hearts from interiors of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan were suffering from complex heart conditions and have now undergone successful surgery at Fortis Hospitals.
“I was not sure why I couldn’t play with my fellow kids from our neighbourhood and why I had to gasp for breath every time I ran. All I want is to be like my friends who keeps running all day long and yet they don’t get tired” that is all that this little child Master Rishav Chourasia knows about his health. At 8, he wonders why he is not like his friends. He was suffering from a complex disease of the heart called as Tetralogy of fallout (TOF). It is the most common heart defect in children. The condition is characterised by a combination of four heart defects i.e. pulmonary stenosis, ventricular hypertrophy, ventricular septal defect, and an aorta, and results in a situation wherein deoxygenated (blue) blood flows out to the body, thus making the children appear bluish. Rishav’s condition was unique as the critical blood vessels of the heart muscle were crossing the path which had to be cut to solve the problem of pulmonary stenosis. The doctors had to do the procedure making sure that the surgery did not affect the blood vessels of this young boys’ heart.

Like Rishav there were 12 more children who walked smilingly into to the hospital, little did they knew that they had heart defects at birth and were undergoing complex surgeries at such a young age to correct their problem? “Congenital Heart Disease is a serious problem plaguing the country. An early detection of the heart defects at birth could help in complete cure. It is very important that awareness about heart disease at birth is properly spread among the masses so that it is detected at the right time. Once the deformity is detected at the appropriate time, treatment is definitely possible and once treated these kids live a normal and healthy life” said Dr. Joseph Xavier, Consultant Pediatric Cardiac Surgeon Fortis Hospitals.

While explaining to the media about congenital heart disease Dr. Joseph Xavier touched upon some of the very complex cases which he operated, “Ram a 3 year old child from Madhya Pradesh son of a temple priest, was suffering from a rare condition of the heart called as total anomalous systemic venous correction where the entire impure blood was returning to the wrong chamber and was getting mixed with pure blood which posed a life threatening situation for Ram. The surgery that we performed involved rerouting of his right artery correcting his deformity. The procedure was successfully done. Ram today is healthy and free from all complications and ready to go back home.”
“We had yet another challenging child Baby Sara who is just 7months old. She had multiple ventricular septal defect (VSD) which is commonly known as hole in heart. The challenge in doing the surgery on Baby Sara was her weight which was just 5 kg and also her age. However now Sara’s hole in the heart has been corrected after the surgery” added Dr. Joseph Xavier.
“There are many children in our country who are suffering from congenital heart disease or heart defects and there is a huge space for creating more awareness around these disease and how early detection and can help save these little hearts. We at Fortis Hospitals are making an attempt to extend our support to save these young hearts. We have been receiving such kids from various parts of India through our association with ENR and Father Chinnappan who is spearheading this initiative in our country” said P Davison, Head of operations Fortis Hospitals Bannerghatta.
Father Chinappan, a priest from Bhopal, has been working towards the cause of helping children suffering from congenital heart defects get their treatment. Father is associated with a German Foundation called ENR who helps raise funds for the surgeries. Fortis and Dr. Joseph Xavier has been actively supporting Father Chinappan’s cause by conducting congenital heart defect surgeries for the children, where the cost of the surgery at a subsidized rate.
Congenital Heart Disease refers to heart disease which is present at birth. These are primarily seen in neonates, infants and children; although in our country it is not uncommon to see adults with uncorrected heart defects. The percentage of children suffering from congenital heart disease in our country is likely to be humongous considering the high birth rate. This shows clearly that the emphasis on this kind of heart disease should be enormous. Though there have been rapid advances in the diagnosis and treatment of CHD over the last few decades, the mortality rate is still very high in our country due to lack of inadequate awareness, screening programs etc in the grass root level to detect the disease at the right time.

Managing CHD in India is indeed an important issue and is often overlooked. The total number of dedicated pediatric cardiologist and surgeons in our country are also very less and there are few centres which are equipped to perform such surgeries. Hence there is a need to spread more awareness around CHD and the fact that if diagnosed early this can be treated. Another essential element that needs to be highlighted is on Foetal Echocardiography. This is used to diagnose heart defects before a child is born. The diagnosis done through foetal echocardiography helps in treating the heart defect in the child at an early stage especially when many times some interventions need to be done immediately after the birth. If abnormalities of the foetal heart are discovered by a prenatal screening procedure, this special examination of the heart of can be performed with a referral from a physician which will help identifying the defect at the right stage, perform corrective procedures and reduce the mortality and morbidity rate.

“I was touched by the innocent smile of child when I saw him in one of the hospitals in Bhopal and came to know that he has a heart defect and his parents cannot afford his surgery. Since then my drive for spreading awareness about heart diseases in children started. My priest friend from Germany who came to know about this drive put me on to ENR and since then there has been no looking back. We are getting such kids to Fortis every year for treatment. It wouldn’t have been possible for me to complete my quest for helping these children without the support from Fortis, Dr. Joseph Xavier and ENR. I would like to urge my fellow brothers to wake up to this problem where many kids of our country are dying due to lack of treatment. A little help could save millions of lives” expressed Father Chinnappan.

For more information, please contact:

Priyam Bortamuli, Suhas Rajendra
PR & Communication
Fortis Hospitals Ltd
Email: priyam.bortamuli@fortishospitals.in
suhas.rajendra@fortishospitals.in
Manoj Kumar/ Snehal Vajpayee
M: 9742272213/ 9742272207