Thiruvananthapuram: A paediatric
cath lab has been set up at
SAT Hospital. This is the first such facility in the public health sector in the state. A diagnostic imaging equipment for visualizing the arteries and chambers of the heart in children has been set up at SAT
Hospital.
The health department has set up this lab for providing free treatment facilities to children till the age of 18, who are suffering from cardiac diseases. On Friday the first Cath lab procedure was done by Dr S Lekshmy, paediatric cardiologist, SAT hospital under the guidance of Dr K Shiva Kumar, interventional paediatric cardiologist of Madras Mission Hospital. Within two days 16 cases of the arterial septic defect and patent ductus arteriosus procedures have been performed here.
The lab offers coronary angiography, coronary angioplasty, closure of congenital heart defects, and treatment of stenotic heart valves and others to the newborn and children below 18 years. In addition to this cath lab also offers the facility to perform balloon atrial septostomy.
According to Dr Lekshmy as there was no cath lab at SAT earlier, the patients were referred to Sree Chithra Thirunnal Institute of Medical Sciences.
“The actual cost of diagnosis and intervention is around Rs 1.5 lakh. The cath lab treatment at SAT promises permanent cure and it will be done free of cost under the government schemes. The patients can leave the hospital in two days,” said Dr Lekshmy.
