On March 28th Genesis Foundation with the support of its CSR Partner Assets Care & Reconstruction Enterprise Ltd. (ACRE) announced the successful treatment of an 8-days old baby girl born with an Interrupted Aortic Arch A-P window, a critical congenital heart defect. In babies born with an interrupted aortic arch, oxygen-rich blood from the left side of the heart is not able to reach all areas of the body. Not getting enough blood to all parts of the body can lead to severe symptoms including congestive heart failure.
The baby girl reached the emergency wing of Artemis Hospital, Gurugram, with a Cardiogenic Shock, Congestive Heart Failure, Respiratory failure and preRenal conditions of an Acute Renal Failure (ARF), a combination that put a big question on her ability to survive. She needed a corrective surgery immediately to give her a chance to live. While at birth she had no symptoms, she did not urinate for over 5 hours on her 5th day. The parents took her to a hospital in Gurugram. The next day she started getting convulsions and was immediately put in the Intensive Care Unit and referred to Artemis Hospital.
She needed to go through an emergency surgery to live. “This was an extremely high-risk surgery, where every minute counted to save the child,” said Dr Aseem Srivastava, Head, Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, Artemis Hospitals, Gurugram. “In my opinion this baby is an example of what is right with our healthcare system and also of what is wrong with it. Babies with these heart conditions will perish very quickly if not treated within a few days of life – and extraordinary efforts are needed to help them survive – but once treated they are expected to lead a normal life.”
Her father works as a driver and could not afford the cost of this life saving procedure. Genesis Foundation, an NGO that supports underprivileged children born with a congenital heart defect, stepped in and provided the finances for the procedure. The little girl was successfully operated last week and has now been discharged.
Congenital heart defects are the leading birth defects in the country and yet awareness about the same is lacking in large parts of the country. “Foetal screening during the ante-natal period and at birth using a pulse oximeter helps in diagnosing most congenital defects early. These are standard practices in many parts of the world, but we are lagging in India. At the Foundation, while we strive to ensure that every child who has a heart defect gets access to a life changing treatment, we are also working to build awareness to ensure timely diagnosis and treatment and save many more lives,” says Simran Sagar, Operations Director at Genesis Foundation.
The funds for this procedure were provided by their CSR partner Assets Care & Reconstruction Enterprise Limited (ACRE) and together they have saved over 80 such lesser privileged children requiring life-saving intervention for a hole in the heart. Mr Jatin Mahajan, Senior Manager (ACRE) said “As part of our CSR initiatives we have been working in many areas of healthcare, congenital heart defects being one of them. We are thankful to Genesis Foundation for working with us on such a noble cause and saving little hearts. I wish the little baby a speedy recovery.”
