33 children diagnosed with heart ailments at spl camp

Trichy: Ten children with

heart

problems have been referred for immediate surgery under the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) at a special camp for school children organised by the public health department, in which 74 children were screened, at the collectorate here on Friday.

At the camp, ECHO cardiogram and several other tests were performed on children identified with heart diseases The camp was also attended by 44 children already diagnosed with heart diseases, to motivate the kids. The ten children diagnosed with atrial septal defect, ventricular septal defect, patent ductus arteriosus, etc. were referred for immediate surgery. The remaining 23 children with heart diseases will be kept under regular observation for three months and under medication.

Collector S Sivarasu has asked parents for their cooperation to get their children screened for diseases so that they can be cured either through medication or surgery. Children requiring surgeries have been referred to some private hospitals in Trichy, Chennai and Coimbatore to undergo surgeries free-of-cost under the chief minister’s comprehensive health insurance scheme (CMCHIS). A total of 1,481 students were treated so far under the scheme since 2015.

Deputy director of health services (DDHS) Dr A Subramani said that the camps helped identify defects in the children at a young age and rectify them during the early stages of the disease or condition.

“The special camp exclusively for heart diseases will give us an idea about the nature of the heart disease. Based on the test reports, we can decide if the patient requires surgery or medication,” DDHS Subramani told TOI. Out of 1,481 school children who underwent surgeries for various health conditions under RBSK, 459 children were diagnosed with heart diseases and referred for surgery in Trichy since the project commenced in 2015.

On the reason for heart diseases in children, assistant programme manager for RBSK, Trichy, Dr Yashvanth Antony, said that the one child in every 1,000 live births every year has congenital heart disease. Under RBSK, the public health department screened 21,111 children in 1,850 anganwadis and 2,300 government and government-aided schools in Trichy since July 2015. Of them, 11,027 were found healthy and 7,625 were on medical management for various ailments. A total of 30 teams from the health department would take care of the screening in the schools and anganwadis.