E-Paper
83% infants admitted to PGI with congenital heart disease survived: Data
Around 84,000 children in North India are born with congenital heart disease every year, but the region does not have a dedicated advanced paediatric cardiac sciences centre
Around 83% infants, who were admitted to the emergency unit of the Advanced Paediatric Centre (APC) at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) with congenital heart disease in the last financial year, survived.
Congenital heart disease refers to a range of birth defects that affect the way the heart works. As per data from the institute, as many as 180 children suffering with the heart defects were admitted to the paediatric emergency from April 2021 to March 2022, of which 70 infants were operated on, while 80 were treated with medicines. The children were admitted to a newly created Intensive Care Unit, mandated to provide care to critical children.
The infants are being treated free of cost at the institute with the help of different central and state government schemes.
Professor Arun K Baranwal, APC, PGIMER, said, “Congenital heart disease is the seventh most common reason for infant mortality rate in India. Infants from across north India are admitted at PGIMER. With advanced facilities and an experienced health care team, we were able to save 150 infants last year.”
The 10-bedded High Dependency Facility (HDF) unit, which started at PGIMER in November 2018, has transformed into a formal intensive care unit for these infants. It has monitors, ventilators, blood gas analysers, and echo-cardiography equipment.
Dr Baranwal said, “The infant mortality rate will improve significantly with the proper treatment of infants. This will automatically improve life expectancy at birth and human development index (HDI).
No dedicated paediatric cardiac centre in region
Every year, more than 84,000 children in North India are born with congenital heart disease, while the national average is 2.38 lakh children every year.
With no dedicated advanced paediatric cardiac sciences centre in the region (north India), only 17% of 84,000 infants are able to avail surgeries, the study shows. In south India, 72% of the 38,000 infants get access to surgeries.
While PGIMER treats infants with congenital heart disease, there is no dedicated facility in the cardiac unit for these patients.
A dedicated facility for patients with congenital heart disease should include paediatric cardiology, paediatric cardiac radioimaging, paediatric cardiac surgery, paediatric cardiac anaesthesia and paediatric cardiac intensive care.
As per doctors four other facilities are in the pipeline.
Congenital heart defects are the most common birth defects. The defects can affect how blood flows through the heart to the rest of the body and can vary from mild (such as a small hole in the heart) to severe (such as missing or poorly formed parts of the heart).
