CUTTACK: The Cardiology Department of the SCB Medical College and Hospital has provided a ray of hope for poor parents with children suffering from congenital heart defects. On Thursday, the department conducted a device closure procedure on five children belonging to underprivileged families from different parts of the State. Around 10 children from as far as Malkangiri and Kandhamal along with Jagatsinghpur, Balasore and Kendrapara districts were admitted to the department on Wednesday. They have been suffering either from atrial septal defect (ASD) or ventricular septal defect (VSD).
Unable to afford money, their parents were not able to do their necessary diagnosis and treatment. Thanks to the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) units functioning at community health centre-level for screening of congenital heart defects and facilitating necessary treatment, they were detected and referred to the SCBMCH.
A team of doctors headed by Head of the department Satya Narayan Routray successfully closed the defect or the opening between the right and left sides of the heart on five of them in the first phase on Thursday under the supervision of Dr. Ajit Pilai of Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research(JIPMER), Pondichérry.
“Of the five children, two each had ASD and VSD, while another one was suffering from patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), a persistent opening between the two major blood vessels leading from the heart,” said Routray adding, effort is on to conduct the procedure on the rest five children within a day or two.
The device closure procedure would have cost nearly Rs 2 lakh if conducted in a private hospital. However, it was done in SCB MCH free of cost under RBSK. The programme was launched in SCB MCH in 2016. As many as 35 children having congenital heart defects have so far benefited in the last one and half years, said manager, RBSK, SCB MCH, Satya Narayan Tripathy.