Released on: June 20, 2008, 5:28 am

Press Release Author: VEENA

Industry: Healthcare

Press Release Summary: In one of the biggest ever Community and Matching Grant
Projects, Manipal Hospital Bangalore and Rotary International (RI) have come
together to facilitate the heart surgery of 40 underprivileged children suffering
from Congenital Heart Disease (CHD).

Press Release Body: Bangalore, India: In one of the biggest ever Community and
Matching Grant Projects, Manipal Hospital Bangalore and Rotary International (RI)
have come together to facilitate the heart surgery of 40 underprivileged children
suffering from Congenital Heart Disease (CHD). So far the hospital has already
conducted 16 operations successfully.

Through this noble venture, children whose parents would have been hard pressed to
seek medical attention on their own now have wide smiles on their faces as their
children get back to a normal life. Among the 17 children are Mithun, (7) from
Mangalore who was constantly racked by weakness and fever. He came to know of the
scheme that helped children like him through a local Rotary representative. Today,
he is a happy kid who has started playing his favorite game, cricket.

The parents of Jaipratap (2), from Salem, were worried that their son was always
sick. "He was always having cold and fever, little did we know that he had a problem
with his hear," said his father Jaikumar. He is now back at home, looking forward to
a fulfilling life. Mohammed Shahid (5) came to know of his heart condition from a
check up done at school. Now after his operation he is eager to get back to playing
marbles with his friends.

In another case Manjesh (10), son of farm laborers from Shimoga came to know about
his ailment 5 years ago and went through myriad hospitals to no avail. Says his
mother, Nagamma, "God has gifted him back to us through Manipal Hospital."

Hemant (10) from Mandya was born with a hole in his heart and remained perennially
weak, turning breathless and blue constantly, his parents Manjesh and Shobha had
little to look forward to. Doctors recommended surgery but that was beyond their
means. Help finally came in the form Manipal Hospital and RI. Shantakumar, also from
Mandya, suffered from a heart disease that left him tired very quickly, affecting
his normal life, more importantly his studies. After his surgery, he is back home
leading a normal healthy life.

Announcing the successful completion of the surgery on the 17 children, Manipal
Hospital & Rotary International briefed the media on the various ailments that these
children suffered from and how the surgeries would now infuse new life and change
their destiny forever. "It gives us untold joy to see these children back on their
feet, and we are happy that a total of 40 children will benefit from the Matching
Grant Project," said Mr. OP Khanna, who spearheaded the project.

"More than 1,50,000 children are born with congenital heart disease, every year in
India. The sad state of affairs is that only about 5,000 manage to get treated
mostly with sponsorships and government aid. There are a large number of children
with serious heart diseases in India who can be given a new lease of life with
timely heart surgery," said Dr. Prasad Krishnan, of Cardiothoracic & Vascular
Surgery at Manipal Hospital. Dr. Krishnan, along with paediatric cardiologists - Dr.
Sreekanth Raghavan and Dr. Ravi Narayan - treated the patients. "We are happy that
the Paediatric Cardiology team has been able to bring smiles back to the faces of
the children and their parents," said Dr. Krishnan.

Mr. Rajendra Rai, Rotary Governor District 3190 informed the gathering, "India is
now in the middle of a CHD epidemic with over 10% of urban Indians having CHD. About
50% of all heart attacks among Asian Indian men occur under the age of 55 and 25%
under the age of 40, unheard of in any other population,"

Thanks to the efforts of RI and Manipal Hospital, and the medical talents of the
Paediatric Cardiac team of doctors, these 40 children will now have a new lease of
life.


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