Apollo Hospitals, Navi Mumbai has successfully treated 22 underprivileged children free of cost for cardiac ailments

Apollo Hospitals treats 22 under privileged infants free-of-cost for cardiac ailments

• Includes 11 open heart surgeries
• Programme will be extended to 44 more infants

Mumbai, 15th May, 2018:

When Apollo Hospitals Navi Mumbai launched its first tertiary care Multi-speciality hospital in Navi Mumbai, it committed to treat around 66 pediatric cardiac patients from underprivileged families at no cost. Today, the hospital has completed 22 such procedures of which 11 infants underwent open heart surgeries and remaining 11 treated with interventional procedures. Apollo Hospitals is shortlisting & inviting eligible families to come forward and benefit from this programme.

One of the recent cases treated by the hospital in Navi Mumbai is that of an 11 month old baby Harsh Tamboli. When the parents Mr Prashanth Tamboli experienced repeated episodes of cough and cold, little did they know that Master Harsh Tamboli, was suspected to have congenital heart disease due to abnormal heart beats. On diagnosis, it confirmed severe Valvular Aortic Stenosis with preserved ventricular function. He was successfully managed bypaediatric cardiologists at Apollo Hospitals, Navi Mumbai by performing balloon aortic valvotomy. “We come from a remote place near Raigad. When we saw our baby struggle to breathe, we were completely unaware of its heart health being the reason behind it. While we knew that we urgently needed a specialist doctor to treat our child, we were also worried about funding the treatment. Knowing that heart related treatment will cost a huge amount, we were extremely worried about our child’s health. We were then referred to Apollo Hospitals Navi Mumbai. I am very glad we came here. The hospital has treated my child with the best of its services at no cost.” said Ms. Prashanth Tamboli, father of the baby.

Pediatric heart cases deserve specialized attention. Immediate detection of cardiac anomalies is of utmost importance to avoid long term, or irreversible damage to the heart andpotential loss of life.

Dr Neville Soloman, Consultant, Paeditaric Cardiac Surgery, Apollo Hospitals, said, “Out of 1000 children, 8 children have congenital heart disease. On an average 3 to 4 need to undergo a surgery or their survival becomes a challenge, but not all children require surgery, simple conditions can be managed by interventional procedures (Non-surgical procedures) andcomplex conditions can be cured by open heart surgery with excellent results, if the team is good. Many of these children can lead a normal life like any other children with good quality of life.”

“Pediatric cardiac cases observed in the lower socio-economic strata of society usually go undiagnosed. This initiative aims to not only deliver quality of life and the best healthcare facilities to the underprivileged; we also want to create more awareness on heart health of the baby right from pregnancy. It is heartening to see that our services are helping families reassure lives of their babies who are being diagnosed with heart related ailments,” said Dr Narendra Trivedi, CEO, Apollo Hospitals, Navi Mumbai

Specially designed for the underprivileged families, the hospital has set a selection process for families to benefit from this programme. The selection criteria is based on producing certificates / documents that include:

• Patient case history
• Identity card / residential proof
• Income certificate based on lower income criteria

This noble initiative announced by Apollo Hospitals Navi Mumbai was to commemorate a milestone of 66^th Apollo Hospital being launched in India.