Little Heroes all set to make their journey back to home post Heart Surgery at Apollo Hospitals, Indore
It is estimated that 240,000 children are born with heart diseases every year in India. Less than 10% of them receive care on time. Most with complex heart disorders succumb without even seeing their first birthday! Studies reveal that 10% of all infant mortality can be attributed to congenital heart diseases alone. Others indicate an increase in the number of pediatric cardiac disorders. Added to that is the small numbers of dedicated pediatric centers, fewer pediatric cardio thoracic surgeons, and even lesser pediatric cardiologists.
Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) is flagship government initiative aiming at early identification and early intervention for children from birth to 18 years. As part of this initiative recently over 10 children under the age of 10 – were identified through an extensive screening program from districts of Gwalior – and sent on to Apollo Hospitals in Indore in the presence of our honorable CM Shri Shivraj Singh Chauhan earlier this month.
Speaking on the occasion and sharing details, Senior Pediatric Cardiac Surgeon Dr Nishith Bhargava shared ‘Upon arrival, we have a detailed protocol whereby the child undergoes a detailed assessment of his heart status. This is followed by a planning for the surgery and in this batch of children we received only seven of them were found to be fit for surgical repair and were operated’’.
Adding Dr Sanjukta Bhargava, Senior Consultant, Pediatric Cardiologist shared ”while we were able to offer care to most of the patients, at times we also come across children who cannot be operated upon mostly because of late presentation. In this group too which travelled from Gwalior three kids had passed the time-line and I personally feel the Government is doing a lot of work and over time we should see improvement in this scenario”
Dr. Nishith Bhargava has been pivotal in setting up the Pediatric Heart Surgery Department as part of the Apollo Hospitals in Indore. The unit under his leadership has been instrumental in bringing cheer to over 250 little hearts the team operated upon during the short span of 18 months. This includes some path breaking work which included extremely challenging neonatal pacemaker implantation in a 1.8 kg child just 1 day old”.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Tulsiram Silawat, Cabinet Minister, Govt. of M.P. shared; it is such a blessing to see the little lives with a happy smile. They beam with hope, and hope of a new India and I complement Dr. Nishith and the Apollo Hospitals team in the commendable work they are doing in this space.
