Your Contribution will Save a Life

The infant mortality has decreased from 60 in 2003 to 41 in 2016; however, of the 26 million babies born in India, every year one million babies die before the age of one month.

India alone accounts for 22 per cent of 6.3 million annual under-five deaths globally. Over half (52 per cent) of under-five deaths happen at the neonatal stage. According to the WHO, 36 per cent of all neonatal deaths in India are on account of complications associated with premature births; 23 per cent were due to asphyxia at birth and another 23 per cent due to a range of newborn infections, including neonatalsepsis.

Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have the highest Neonatal Mortality Rate (NMR) in South India, roughly 25 and 29 infants die for every 1,000 live births respectively. Many more children live with disabilities because of inaccessibility to the right medical care. Nearly 10% of these new-borns are born preterm. 50 to 60% will need NICU care. Infants born preterm are at increased risk for a number of health problems. More than a third of infant deaths are from complications related to preterm births, making prematurity the most frequent cause of infant mortality

There are only 2 government hospitals, Niloufer and Gandhi who provide new born Care. However, there is no ventilation facility to cater to so many patients. 8% of these children have Meconium stained amniotic fluid (baby passes stool in mother's womb). 20% of these children will need ventilatory support. There are at least 20 to 30 neonates per day needing support.

Every year 10 lakh+ children in India don’t make it to their 1st Birthday. Children from lower socioeconomic class commonly get infectious disease like diarrhoea, dengue, malaria, pneumonia and encephalitis. Some of these children need advanced Paediatric intensive care and ventilatory support. Daily 20 to 30 cases are admitted into PICU in Hyderabad. These children if treated appropriately improve and will be normal and resourceful to the community.

Heal-a-Child foundation focuses on Neo natal critical care and 70% of the babies we supported were new-borns.

There are organisations funding children with heart disease or cancer but none for neonates and routine disease which are the common cause of death in children.

Heal-a-Child foundation supports ALL sick children needing intensive medical care.

It is with the purpose of ensuring no child’s life is lost for lack of money and medical care, we had set up Heal-a-Child. If a child is sick and the parents cannot afford it, we pay for the treatment.

We work with major children’s hospitals in the city like Rainbow, Lotus, Fernandez, Little Star, NICE, and specialized hospitals like Apollo, Global hospital on specific cases.

These partner Hospitals treat these children under a special category & support HAC by offering a maximum concession on the medical bill of up to 50% on the treatment being provided.

Hospitals directly refer cases to the Trust and if the child qualifies for aid, we pay the hospital bill.

We support:

1. Critically ill children & new-borns belonging to families who are from lower socio-economic class ( white card) & cannot afford such treatments

2. Unable to continue treatment midway because of financial limitation.

3. Families that are not supported by the Arogyashri scheme and/or any insurance.

A due diligence is done on the medical condition and economic status of the family.

The biggest impact our work has is in the lives of the children whom we save and their families. Cases come to us of children who need intensive medical care and their families have exhausted all means paying for the treatment; sold what little land & jewelry they have and taken loans in paying the huge medical bills that run into lakhs. And from parents who have absolutely no means to pay for the treatment like daily wage workers.

We support these cases and ensure the children continue to receive the medical treatment needed. No child’s life is lost for lack of money and the poor and under-privileged children also receive the highest standard of medical care. Over 95% of cases that come to us are saved.

Another case scenario about the impact our work has, is with the government orphanage that we associated with in organizing medical checkup camps. With the doctors conducting bi-weekly medical check camps, evaluating the nutritional and supplement needs of the children and identifying hospitalization need, the mortality rate has significantly reduced.

We have supported the medical treatment of close to 350 children. Amongst the cases we have supported include –

• Preterm babies – Babies with as low birth rate as 768gms and complications such as unconjugated Hyperbilirubinemia, congenital heart disease, Suspected Central Pituitary Deficiency, Sepsis, respiratory distress, Neonatal seizures/ Encephalopathy, Aspiration Pneumonia with Moderate GERD, etc Most of the babies require ventilator support, surfactant, phototherapy, FFP transfusion etc Treatment costs run into lakhs. On an average HAC support for such cases is between 1.5-2 lakhs.

• Infants - Refractory Seizures, Meningitis, ventriculitis and hydrocephalus, Bronchopneumonia, Chronic Lung Disease, Lower Respiratory Tract Infection, Dengue Fever, Pulmonary hemorrhage, etc. HAC support for these children is between Rs. 75,000 to 1.5 lakhs.

• Children: We’ve supported cases of young children with multiorgan dysfunction, Hodgkin's Lymphoma, severe respiratory distress, Malrotation with mid gut volvulus, 2nd degree burns with Culture Positive Sepsis, Chronic Liver Disease, spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy, Hirshprungs disease, etc The treatment varied from ventilator support, surgeries, Chemo cycles etc. Our support for such cases ranges from 1 lakh to 5 lakhs. Liver transplant case was one of the biggest cases that we supported, with the total treatment cost being 18+ lakhs.