KURNOOL: Paediatric cardiac surgeries to plug holes in the heart were performed on Imran, 7, of Pullikal in Gadwal district in Telangana to rectify atrial septal defect (ASD) and on 11-month-old Aruna Teja of Ramatheertham in Banaganapalli in Kurnool district to rectify patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in Kurnool general hospital under NTR Vaidya Seva scheme and both recovered completely, Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery C. Prabhakar Reddy asserted on Monday.
Children with congenital heart ailments were undergoing paediatric cardiac surgeries in Kurnool general hospital, without their need to go all the way to Hyderabad, Dr. Prabhakar Reddy told the media in the hospital. The minimally invasive cardiac surgery done in corporate hospitals at Hyderabad at a cost of around Rs. 6 lakh was being performed free of charge under NTR Vaidya Seva in Kurnool, he added. Seven-year-old Imran weighed about eight kgs and Aruna Teja weighed four kgs.
The state-of-the-art cardiothoracic surgery wing has expert doctors, ventilators, round the clock supervision of doctors and anaesthetists, he said and appealed to patients not to believe rumours that the Government hospital lacked facilities, he said. In the department started in September 2016, 79 minimally invasive cardiac surgeries were performed so far including 50 cardiac patients and 29 patients with lung disorders, Dr. Prabhakar Reddy said.
Children with congenital heart defects comprising of 70 per cent cases can be operated upon in Kurnool general hospital and 30 per cent of children having complex heart diseases can go to Hyderabad, as AP Government has extended NTR Vaidya Seva services in Hyderabad, he stated.