CHENNAI: The Department of Paediatric Cardiac Surgery in Apollo Children’s Hospital has performed above 5,000 paediatric cardiac operations in over a decade. Newborn babies that are just a few hours old and weighing only 1.2 kg have been successfully operated on and discharged. The department offers paediatric cardiac services like complex neonatal cardiac surgeries, valve repairs, heart failure, ECMO, and transplants, a press release said.
The release added that initially, around 500 children will be covered over a period of one year from all socio-economic classes for heart surgery. The paediatric cardiac programme “Healing Tiny Heart” caters to children with heart disease in all socio-economic classes. The programme is run with the help of the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Scheme. Donations are received through ‘Save A Child’s Heart’ initiative run by Apollo hospital and crowd funding.“Of every 1,000 babies born, eight are born with congenital heart disease. In India, on an average, 2.5 lakh children are born annually with heart disease,” the release said.