Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

Open-heart surgeries performed on 11 children under State scheme

— Photo: S. James

hale and hearty: A.R. Raghuram, (centre), cardiothoracic surgeon with the children at a hospital in the city on Thursday.

MADURAI: Eleven children from below poverty line families underwent open heart surgeries under the Chief Minister’s ‘Ilam Sirar Irudhaya Paadhukappu Thittam’ at Meenakshi Mission Hospital and Research Centre (MMHRC) here on July 28 and 29.

“The children were identified during free cardiology camps. The State Government provides a grant of Rs.30,000 a child toward material expenses for the surgery and the rest is borne by the hospital,” A. R. Raghuram, Cardiothoracic surgeon at the hospital said on Thursday.

These children, 11 to 15 years of age, were detected with ‘hole in the heart’ and a team of doctors/anaesthetists allotted two days to complete the surgeries.

The affected children were from places such as Devakottai, Kulithalai, Thanjavur, Dindigul, Tuticorin and Natham.

S. Gurushankar, vice-chairman of the hospital, said that the scheme launched by the State Government was very beneficial to children with congenital heart diseases and private hospitals also were willing to be part of it with a non-profit motive.

“Our hospital has been performing free surgeries even before the scheme was launched. Already 82 heart surgeries have been performed for children through Kid Aid Foundation,” Mr. Gurushankar said.

An appeal was made to the Chief Minister to consider sanctioning of an exclusive operation theatre/equipment for private hospitals selected by the government for the children’s free heart surgery scheme.

According to Dr. Raghuram, there are more children as well as adults who are waiting for heart surgeries and the list is growing. “If the government provides a separate facility in select private hospitals, the cases can be attended to quickly.”

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