Rotary Club’s open heart surgery for kids

The project, Caring for Little Hearts, is a collaboration between the Rotary Club of Madras South and Pasadena Rotary Club in California, US. This initiative will help 300 children in Tamil Nadu affected with congenital heart problems. The club has already facilitated 60 open-heart

surgeries this year for children selected through medical camps and Dr Prashant Shah is the Chief Surgeon for the project, which is being carried out at Sooriya Hospital, Vadapalani.

“The idea of the project was conceived a year ago when we realised that congenital heart disease is prevalent in our society and curable if diagnosed early; but often it is not done mainly due to lack of financial support. We believe this project will address this gap and help the children of Tamil Nadu lead a healthy life and contribute to society,” said Magdoom Mohamed K Z, President of the Club. Congenital heart disease is one of the reasons for morbidity and mortality in paediatric population.

Various statistics show six to eight children out of every 1000 children born in the country suffer from congenital heart defects.