Kiran Vora through Rotary, an International Organisation, has partnered with Wockhardt Hospital in Mumbai in saving lives of new born children through Pediatric Heart Surgeries, under the project “Little Hearts” and also known as “Right to Life”. He strongly believes that these unfortunate and underprivileged infants who cannot complain for themselves, has a “Right to Life “ and it is duty of the privileged to ensure that they live, although the Parents of these infants cannot afford the expensive live saving pediatric heart surgeries . More than 300 such lives have been saved so far under this programme which still continues with great success even today Even babies as young as four year old suffering from this serious heart problem have benefited under this programme.
VSD
The American Heart Associated says about one-fifth of congenital heart problems are a result of VSD or ventricular septal defect. About thousands of newborns have heart defects each year in India. In fact, it is the most common heart defect among newborn babies. A VSD condition means there are holes in the lower heart chambers. These holes can be quite large sometimes, and unless a murmur is noted, there may be no symptoms.
VSD can lead to heart failure, especially if the holes are large. It can cause blood from the heart to enter the lungs. An infant with VSD may sweat most of the time and have a high heart rate. The Mortality Rate is more than 50% where the symptoms are not diagnosed and corrective surgeries are not carried out.
aTreating VSD
Pediatric heart surgeries can correct VSD. A procedure to fix the problem involves sewing a patch to the heart muscle. This can close the hole, and the heart can eventually have normal function. If pediatric heart surgeries for VSD are not performed, many infants may eventually die. In fact, some surgical procedures need to be done within hours of birth for the best results.
Unfortunately, many parents in India do not have health insurance to cover pediatric heart surgeries. This is the reason programs like “Little Hearts” is so important, and the work of people like Kiran Vora, Dr. Suresh Joshi, and others, helps to make these life-saving procedures possible.
