Congenital Cardiac Defects

Congenital Heart Defect(CHD) is a formidable public health problem in low income countries, as surgeries are expensive and parents incur significant expenses on diagnosis and treatment. Although the diagnosis +treatment of CHD is well-established in India, pediatric cardiac care is still in its infancy.

There are only few centers which have facilities for pediatric cardiac care including infant and neonatal cardiac surgery. Also, dedicated pediatric cardiologists and cardiac surgeons are few in number, and concentrated in certain urban regions of India especially in metropolitan cities.

Another challenge in India is the high cost of surgery, which makes it unaffordable for families from the lower socio-economic strata. The treatment of babies with heart ailments requires special equipment and expertise, which again is in acute shortage in India. As a result, out of roughly 1.2 lakh children born with heart defects in India, only 30% are diagnosed on time and treated every year.

Lack of awareness, funds and hospital facilities are the reason for majority of such children not surviving beyond the age of four. Specifically, for children in Raigad, either the children do not have access to new forms of treatment or they do not have the financial resources to meet the hefty costs of surgery.

Late diagnosis of CHD carries a high risk of avoidable mortality, morbidity, and handicap. Acquired heart diseases are conditions affecting the heart and its associated blood vessels that develop some time during childhood and covers heart problems such as rheumatic heart disease, swelling of heart muscle, infection in or around the heart etc. Many of these can be treated surgically, which if done in time, can save life and make the child grow normally.

The program aims at early identification, management and medical/surgical treatment of Congenital Heart Defects in children. The Swades team, along with the help of school teachers, Anganwadi Sevikas, Govt RBSK (Rashtriya Bal Swathya Karyakram) teams and will seek to identify children with CHD. Upon identification, counselling of parents is done to attend primary screening camp at partner hospitals, followed by further treatment if need be. Post surgery support and support for rehabilitation into mainstream schools is also provided as part of the program.

Following key activities are done as part of the program:

1. A. Identification and assessment of children requiring tertiary level intervention

2. B. Referral service for children with CHD to partner hospitals in Mumbai

3. Facilitate medical or surgical intervention by experts E.g. paediatricians, cardiologist/ pediatric cardiac surgeons.

4. Provide home based rehabilitation

The target group for the cardiac care program will be children in the age group of 0-18 with a congenital heart disease in 6 blocks in rural Raigad district, Maharashtra, India. 220 children in the age group of 0-18 years have been reported after conducting identification surveys through schools, Anganwadi and Swades Mitras (community health care volunteer worker) in the blocks of Mahad, Mangaon, Mhasla, Poladpur, Shrivardhan and Tala.

As of March 2018, we have been successful in supporting operations of 92 children.