Pune Hospital Conducts 500 Cardiac Surgeries on Children

Doctors at Sahyadri Hospitals have crossed an important milestone of successfully performing 500 paediatric cardiac interventions under state government’s Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana (MJPJAY) since April 2014. “Our doctors have successfully carried out more than 4,000 heart surgeries and more than 500 paediatric cardiac surgeries and 500 paediatric cardiac interventions under MJPJAY,” said medical expert Ketan Apte, head of Sahyadri Super specialty Hospital, Deccan Gymkhana, Nagar Road and Hadapsar branches.

Hospital’s paediatric cardiologist Pankaj Sugaonkar said, “We conduct regular screening camps outside Pune especially in Marathwada to reach out to such patients. We screen about 200 patients in a day and perform 150 echos. Based on the screening report, we guide these patients to visit Sahyadri Hospitals as per their condition and criticality. After scrutinising their documents such as id proof, income proof and yellow ration card these surgeries are done free of charge.”

Narrating a recent complex case, Sugaonkar said, “Recently a two year old baby girl, Ayushi Patil weighing 9 kg was brought to the Hospital with recurring cough and cold. She was diagnosed with 9mm Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA), unable to walk and was not gaining weight. Her situation was significantly challenging.” PDA is a congenital heart condition that affects blood flow in child’s heart and incase the blood flow isn’t efficient, child’s heart and lungs have to work harder. “We closed the PDA and the patient was discharged within a week’s time,” he said.

Another two-year-old boy weighing 8 kg was diagnosed with 14 mm ASD (Atrial Septal Defect) a hole between the two upper chambers of the heart. For closing this hole, the doctor placed a special device in child’s heart by catheterization. “This was a significantly large balloon and therefore we had to assist the device with 18mm balloon. After the treatment, patient was stabilized and discharged next day,” Sugaonkar said. “Both these cases were technically and overall challenging however our device closure success rate has been 100 percent while heart surgery success rate has been 97 percent. The credit for the success of such cases goes to the team of surgeons, paediatricians, anaesthetists and support staff,” Sugaonkar said. – TOI