City hospital's tie-up with U.S. trust for children's cardiac care

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, FEB. 20. The Children's HeartLink, a U.S.-based medical charitable trust, has entered into a collaboration with the Madras Medical Mission for providing additional cardiac services for children in the country.

As the first step, a team of doctors from the University of Wisconsin Children's Hospital in Madison has arrived in the city to help children with heart diseases. The eight-member team, headed by Dr. Dan Cohen, paediatric cardiac surgeon from Wisconsin Children's Hospital, will perform about 30 surgeries during its stay here till March 3. The cardio-vascular team comprises two paediatric intensivists, an anaesthesiologist, an operating room nurse, a perfusionist, a PICU nurse and a senior anaesthesia resident.

``We are here to supplement the efforts of the surgical team of the MMM, the third such centre in the country, in providing quality cardiac care to poor and needy children from all over India,'' Mr. John C. Cushing, Director of International Programmes, Children's HeartLink, said.

The programme envisages prevention and treatment of rheumatic heart diseases that destroy the valves of the heart, which can be prevented by early intervention. A more organised approach towards educating the people and the health staff on rheumatic fever could help.

Dr. Dan Cohen, leader of the medical delegation, said the spectrum of congenital heart diseases in India was similar to that in the U.S. The only difference was that the cases here were brought to the hospital at a much more advanced stage. ``This can possibly be because of early intervention made possible due to awareness among the public and the medical facilities available,'' he added.

Nowadays, cardiac abnormality can be detected by 16 weeks gestation period through foetal cardiography and can also be corrected by a procedure called intra-uterine intervention. However, such medical facilities were not yet available in this part of the world, said Dr. K. M. Cherian, Medical Director, MMM.

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