SAVING LITTLE HEART PROJECT

Marian Cardiac Centre and Research Foundation

Marian Cardiac Centre through its initiative “Saving Little Hearts” has taken upon itself to raise funds to support all such children who need URGENT open heart surgery. The target is to operate these needy children at the earliest in the best hospitals. Our focus is “NOT TO LOSE A PRECIOUS CHILD DUE TO LACK OF MONEY OR APPROPRIATE TREATMENT”.

The Issue

The reported incidence of CHD is 8-10/1000 live births.
Nearly 1/2 – 1/3rd of these CHD are critical requiring intervention in the first year of life.
With currently available treatment modalities, over 75% of these children can survive and lead normal productive lives.
However, this privilege of early antenatal diagnosis and timely management is restricted to around 15-20% of those who have access to these facilities .

Indian Scenario

Unfortunately majority of the children in India do not get necessary care, leading to a high incidence of deaths during the first year of life and also the extremely late presentation can lead to many of these kids becoming inoperable by the time they reach the hospital.

What are the actual numbers?

The crude birth rate is 27.2/1000
The total live births are estimated at 28 million per year
With a believed incidence rate of 8/1000live births , nearly 180,000 children are born with CHD each year in India.
Of these, nearly 60,000 to 90,000 suffer from critical CHD requiring early intervention
Approximately 10% of present infant mortality in India may be accounted for by CHD alone.

So what are we facing?

Every year a large number of children are added to the total pool of cases with CHD.
We are screening at least 20 children a day for heart ailments.
Of which 1-2 kids end up requiring some sort of intervention either by medicines or surgery.

Medical Social Workers and IPF Fund

All needy patients are screened by our Medical Social Workers and then divided into various categories according to income proof and social circumstances.
The patients are divided into a totally free category and Concession Category
The concession may vary from patient to patient.
All emergencies are dealt with immediately but still there is a grey area in all systems..

Grey Areas where parents need funds

Babies whose parents are from out of state…
Emergency procedures ….no time to get proper documents..
Income is less but criteria don’t fit into the IPF category
Farmers who do not have disposable income nor can they take loans…end up selling their land or houses….
Parents who cannot pay immediately but can do so over a period of time

Please don’t let them walk away!!!

“Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go”.

Mother Theresa

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