More Than 10,000 Pediatric Cardiology Procedures Successfully Done on Little Children Born With Heart Ailments

KOLKATA, India, January 7, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

More than 100 Children With Their Parents Celebrated the 'Gift of Life' at RTIICS, Kolkata 

Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences (RTIICS) - a unit of Narayana Health founded by Dr. Devi Shetty invited over 100 children who received a second lease of life after they were successfully treated for congenital heart defects. The celebrations coincided with the Pediatric Cardiology Department achieving a milestone of 10,000 successful Pediatric Cardiology Cath Lab procedures, since 2004. The children enthusiastically participated in games, painting, singing and recitation competitions. It was also a moment for the parents to exchange survival stories. One key fact they all shared in common was the gift of health their children had received from the Pediatric Cardiology experts at RTIICS. Also present on the occasion were the proud and beaming team of doctors headed Dr. Biswajit Bandyopadhyay, Senior Pediatric Cardiologist, RTIICS. Experts interacted with the parents and emphasized on the importance of awareness about congenital heart disorders and the critical need for timely medical intervention to save these little lives.

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Addressing the gathering Dr. Biswajit Bandyopadhyay, Senior Pediatric Cardiologist,  RTIICS said, "Congenital Heart Defects (CHD) accounts for high mortality in children in India. According to published data approximately 8 out of every 1000 children in India are born with some form of heart abnormalities. In majority of the cases the symptoms are misdiagnosed which causes an advertent delay in corrective treatment. Besides poor level of awareness among parents, primary cause for this is the fact that the number of pediatric cardiologists required for advanced level of expertise and care is abysmally low in the country."

He further added,  "Pediatric Cardiology is one of our key areas of speciality and it is moment of pride for the entire department and hospital that thousands of our little patients have benefited from our expertise. Another fact that makes this achievement special is that all these 10,000 cases were interventional procedures." 

Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) is defect in the structure of the heart and abnormal formation of the heart or major blood vessels. Genetic factors, malnutrition during pregnancy are some of the key factors that lead to the birth of children with CHD. Frequent episodes of shortness of breath, bluish skin, dehydration and fatigue are symptoms that are common to children with CHD. Incorrect diagnosis, poor nutrition and delayed treatment results in fast deterioration in the condition of these children. With timely diagnosis and corrective procedure a child can regain health and grow-up to be a normal individual.

"Pediatric cardiology requires a greater set of skills. This is what differentiates the men from the boys. But it's unfortunate that there are so little number of pediatric cardiologists in India," says Dr. Devi Shetty, Founder & Chairman - Narayana Health (formerly Narayana Hrudayalaya).

What makes pediatric cardiology more complicated is the number of variations.

"There can be around 15,000 different types of cases as the arteries and the valve of the heart can come up in different and complicated ways. So we keep seeing something new and unusual most of the times," says Dr. Shreesha Maiya, Senior Consultant Pediatric Cardiologist, Narayana Health City, Bangalore. Even when it comes to diagnosis, special equipment is needed for doing eco-cardiography of children.

Commenting on the same, Mr. R. Venkatesh, Facility Director, RTIICS, said,  "Every time our team of Pediatric Cardiology experts treats a child for their congenital cardiac abnormality it is a celebration. In the last ten years we have had 10,000 such celebrations. It is our ongoing endeavor to reach out to maximum children who are suffering from any kind of congenital cardiac disorder and offer them a chance to lead a healthy life, go to school, play sports and do everything like any other kid." 

The department of Pediatric Cardiology at RTIICS - the flagship hospital in Kolkata, which is part of the Narayana Group of hospitals, brings to the table an unparalleled children's heart health division in this region with their state of the art CCU facility with 24 hours critical care monitoring team, supported by trained nurses, paramedics and technicians. Children suffering from congenital heart problems are brought to RTIICS not only from within the city but the neighboring countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and even Pakistan and Nigeria to get them treated.

About Narayana Health 

Narayana Health, one among India's largest healthcare service providers and also one of the world's most economical, is set to emerge as a global industry model for its ability to reconcile quality, affordability, scale, transparency, credibility and profitability. With all super-speciality tertiary care facilities that the medical world offers, it is now a one-stop healthcare destination for all.

From a humble beginning of a 225 bed hospital in 2001, Narayana Health group of hospitals has grown to become a 7500 beds healthcare conglomerate with 29 hospitals across 17 cities in India and a hospital in the Caribbean at Grand Cayman, North America. Visit www.narayanahealth.org

About Narayana Health Network, Kolkata 

Narayana Health serves the people of Kolkata through its chain of 7 network hospitals in the city located at Mukundapur, Salt Lake, Howrah (Westbank), Hiland Park, Lansdowne and Barasat. Narayana Health's unparalleled heart network in Kolkata comprises of five Cath Labs across the city and 43 Cardiac Consultants with the best emergency specialists working round the clock to ensure health for all.

About Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences 

Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences (RTIICS) Kolkata is a 550 bed full-fledged multi-specialty hospital spread over 4 acres on Eastern Metropolitan Bypass at Mukundapur. RTIICS, a unit of Narayana Health has 14 fully equipped operation theatres and 3 state-of-the-art Catheterization Laboratories with 24 hours facility.

In the last 14 years, RTIICS has performed over 27,000 life-saving adult and pediatric cardiac operations, 96,000 cardiac Cath Lab procedures, 1500 Kidney Transplants, 2,70,000 dialysis and over 55000 multispecialty surgeries, including joint replacements, minimally invasive surgeries, neuro surgeries and other general surgeries. A dedicated team of renowned surgeons, specialist doctors, nurses, technicians and paramedical staff with the most modern equipment and laboratory has made RTIICS one of the leading hospitals of the Narayana Health group.

For further information and media queries, please contact:

INTERNATIONAL PATIENT CARE DIVISION 

Narayana Health, Bengaluru, India

General enquiry:

Email: [email protected]

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SOURCE Narayana Health