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Rotary initiative for free open heart surgeries

Jun 06, 2023 03:55 PM IST

The Rotary Club of Bombay Airport along with five Rotary districts and nine different clubs. They have raised a corpus of ₹1.92 crore which is being used for the treatment of 140 children suffering from the congenital heart disease this year.

KHARGHAR: Three-year-old Umaira Khan, hailing from Basti district Uttar Pradesh on May 24, 2023, successfully underwent open heart surgery at the Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Hospital in Navi Mumbai. The parents of the girl were not aware of Umaira being a heart patient since birth and had been making multiple rounds of the local hospital owing to the poor health condition of their daughter.

Rotary initiative for free open heart surgeries
Rotary initiative for free open heart surgeries

Seven-months-old Swaraj Akash Kale, a resident of Nasik, was finding it hard to take any feed and remained unwell since his birth. A relative informed the parents about the hospital in Kharghar providing free treatment. The child on May 18, underwent lengthy open-heart surgery and in a matter of three days, was showing major signs of improvement with regard to taking timely feeds and being an active baby.

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Both children could undergo surgeries due to the funds raised by the Rotary Club of Bombay Airport along with five Rotary districts and nine different clubs. They have raised 1.92 crore which are being used for the treatment of 140 such children suffering from the disease this year. The free surgeries are scheduled to be conducted at the Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Hospital, sector 38, Kharghar, Navi Mumbai.

“Through this initiative, we have already managed to give a new lease of life to 348 children in the past three years. The idea of this joint venture is to ensure every child receives the necessary medical care regardless of their family economic situation. Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani hospital is a chain of pediatric cardiac hospitals known for providing free health care across various parts of the country,” said the President of the Rotary club of Bombay Airport, Suvendu Mishra.

Congenital heart defects (CHD) are one of the most common birth defects in India affecting approximately 1% of newborns in the country every year. “It is a type of heart disease that is present at birth and it can cause serious health complications if left untreated. Children with CHD often require specialized medical care and treatment to manage their symptoms which generally includes difficulty in breathing, poor growth, fatigue and irregular heartbeat,” said Dr Snehal Kulkarni, Mentor- Pediatric cardiology, Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Hospital.

The hospital started conducting open heart surgeries from May 2020 onwards and has performed over 2800 surgeries for children totally free of cost.

“We get patients referred by both private and government hospitals. Even families whose children were operated on earlier often refer new patients. Additionally, circulars are also issued to the surgeons and hospitals to refer cases of CHD patients,” adds Mishra.

The corpus of 1.92 crore is the result of the collective contributions made by a total of 85 donors. Supporting the endeavor of the clubs is renowned cricketer Sunil Gavaskar. The cricket legend earlier presented the Gift of LIfe certificate to some of the children who underwent the surgery.

Mr C. Sreenivas Chairman, Sri Sathya Sai Health and Education Trust said, “The expense usually incurred during these surgeries is huge and patient relatives struggle to arrange the funds. The money raised by the club through generous donations works out as a major relief for families struggling to cover medical costs,” he said.

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