The St Gregorios Cardio Vascular Centre (SGCVC) at Parumala attached to the Chennai-based Dr. K.M. Cherian Heart Foundation organised a workshop at which pacemakers and defibrillators were implanted in poor patients on January 13 and 14.
In a statement here on Tuesday, Dr. Pankaj Kumar Srivastava, cardiac surgeon and telemedicine-in-charge at the SGCVC, said the venture was sponsored by Project Pacer International, a charitable organisation based in Boston.
Dr. Roy M. John, cardiologist and cardiac electro physiologist from Brigham and Woman's Hospital attached to Harvard Medical School in the U.S., was at the SGCVC representing Project Pacer International.
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Dr. Roy treated patients with heart rhythm disturbances and implanted cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators in the poor among them free of cost. Defibrillators were implanted in two patients and pacemakers in four.
The cost of implantable defibrillators is between Rs.5 and 6 lakh and that of pacemakers between Rs. 50,000 and Rs.1 lakh, Dr. Srivastava said.
The charity project was supported by the St Jude Medical Inc. Dr. Roy conducted radio frequency ablation for rhythm disturbances in four patients.
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Dr Srivastava said the SGCVC was planning to organise the collaborative project with Project Pacer International and Dr. Roy M. John on a larger scale at Parumala every year.