Free heart screening
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, September 22 2015:
Ahead of the World Heart Day observation, Sky Hospital and Research Centre has begun conducting free heart screenings for babies having heart defects.
Sky Hospital Managing Director Lairikyengbam Shyamuel said that the free screenings are conducted in connection with World Heart Day to be observed world-wide on September 29.After screening all the babies coming from different districts, a baby would be selected for the financial assistance of Rs 25,000 under the sponsorship of Manipur Heart Foundation, he said and added that interested parents may contact mobile phone number 08415935048 for registration.
He said that congenital heart disease accounts for approximately 10 per cent of infant mortality in India and 180,000 children in the country are born with congenital heart disease every year.
Saying that 60,000 to 90,000 of these children require early life saving interventions either in the form of open-heart surgery or non-surgical procedures such as device closure of holes in the heart, Shyamuel said that left untreated, the mortality rates of these children increase 40 per cent by the age of 4, 70 percent by the age of 10 and 95 per cent by the age of 40.A big challenge in Manipur and India unlike in the developed countries is that these children are given treatment at advanced stages as the parents are unaware about the symptoms of heart defects, he said.
Shyamuel added that even if the parents want to get their children treated, most of them are unable to have heart screening and consult a cardiologist due to poverty and lack of facilities.