Manipal Hospital and Rotary International to provide a new life for 40 needy children

Bangalore, India (SANEPR.com) June 20, 2008 -- In one of the biggest ever Community and Matching Grant Projects, Manipal Hospital Bangalore and Rotary International (RI) have come together to facilitate the heart surgery of 40 underprivileged children suffering from Congenital Heart Disease (CHD). So far the hospital has already conducted 16 operations successfully.

Through this noble venture, children whose parents would have been hard pressed to seek medical attention on their own now have wide smiles on their faces as their children get back to a normal life. Among the 17 children are Mithun, (7) from Mangalore who was constantly racked by weakness and fever. He came to know of the scheme that helped children like him through a local Rotary representative. Today, he is a happy kid who has started playing his favorite game, cricket.

The parents of Jaipratap (2), from Salem, were worried that their son was always sick. “He was always having cold and fever, little did we know that he had a problem with his hear,” said his father Jaikumar. He is now back at home, looking forward to a fulfilling life. Mohammed Shahid (5) came to know of his heart condition from a check up done at school. Now after his operation he is eager to get back to playing marbles with his friends.

In another case Manjesh (10), son of farm laborers from Shimoga came to know about his ailment 5 years ago and went through myriad hospitals to no avail. Says his mother, Nagamma, “God has gifted him back to us through Manipal Hospital.”

Hemant (10) from Mandya was born with a hole in his heart and remained perennially weak, turning breathless and blue constantly, his parents Manjesh and Shobha had little to look forward to. Doctors recommended surgery but that was beyond their means. Help finally came in the form Manipal Hospital and RI. Shantakumar, also from Mandya, suffered from a heart disease that left him tired very quickly, affecting his normal life, more importantly his studies. After his surgery, he is back home leading a normal healthy life.

Announcing the successful completion of the surgery on the 17 children, Manipal Hospital & Rotary International briefed the media on the various ailments that these children suffered from and how the surgeries would now infuse new life and change their destiny forever. “It gives us untold joy to see these children back on their feet, and we are happy that a total of 40 children will benefit from the Matching Grant Project,” said Mr. OP Khanna, who spearheaded the project.

“More than 1,50,000 children are born with congenital heart disease, every year in India. The sad state of affairs is that only about 5,000 manage to get treated mostly with sponsorships and government aid. There are a large number of children with serious heart diseases in India who can be given a new lease of life with timely heart surgery,” said Dr. Prasad Krishnan, of Cardiothoracic & Vascular Surgery at Manipal Hospital. Dr. Krishnan, along with paediatric cardiologists – Dr. Sreekanth Raghavan and Dr. Ravi Narayan – treated the patients. “We are happy that the Paediatric Cardiology team has been able to bring smiles back to the faces of the children and their parents,” said Dr. Krishnan.

Mr. Rajendra Rai, Rotary Governor District 3190 informed the gathering, “India is now in the middle of a CHD epidemic with over 10% of urban Indians having CHD. About 50% of all heart attacks among Asian Indian men occur under the age of 55 and 25% under the age of 40, unheard of in any other population,”

Thanks to the efforts of RI and Manipal Hospital, and the medical talents of the Paediatric Cardiac team of doctors, these 40 children will now have a new lease of life.