Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad   

Shreya's hearty gesture

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, SEPT. 24. Efforts to provide treatment to poor children suffering from heart diseases got a boost today with film star, Shreya, volunteering to sponsor the heart surgery of four children at Apollo Hospital, Jubilee Hills.

It was an instant decision for the popular film star when she read in the newspapers about hundreds of children with heart ailments seeking help from the Government for undergoing operations. Shreya, who had participated in the "Save A Child's Heart (SACH)" programme of Apollo Hospitals last year immediately called up friends and told them about her intention to sponsor four children for heart surgeries.

Visits hospital

Shreya came to the cardiology wing of Apollo Hospital, Jubilee Hills, on Friday and saw for herself the frail-looking children - Raviteja (6), Koteswara Rao (12), Saieswar (4) and 10-month-old Jyotsna lined up for the surgeries.

"My idea is to help the children with heart ailments in whatever way I can and in my own way," she said adding she had no idea how much the surgeries would cost. She said she would talk to her co-stars and friends in the film industry about the necessity to help these children.

Earlier, peadiatric cardio-thoracic surgeon K.S.Murthy and paediatric cardiologist S.R. Anil said the four kids have holes in the heart while Saieswar also has a `leaking valve, which needs to be repaired or replaced' and Koteswara Rao has a narrowed pulmonary artery.

The 10-month-old Jyotsna with a large hole in her heart weighs a mere three kg against a normal weight of 10 kg as she could not even feed properly due to breathlessness.

She should have ideally been operated upon when she was two-months old, the doctors said. Any further delay would make her inoperable.

Apollo Hospital has screened about 1,000 children in need of surgery and 47 operations have been performed so far free of cost.

The open heart surgeries would cost between Rs.70,000 and Rs.1 lakh, they added.

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