20% of children die due to lack of timely treatment and 80% of children remain healthy with treatment, Professor Sohail Bangash. Photo: File
Every year more than 70 thousand children are born suffering from heart diseases in Pakistan, while the biggest heart disease in children is having a hole in their heart.
All over Sindh, including Karachi, children’s heart diseases are being treated officially only in the National Institute of Cardiology. So their children can be protected from heart diseases. Due to lack of timely treatment, 15 to 20 percent of children die while 80 percent of children remain healthy with treatment.
Prof. Dr. Sohail Khan Bangash, head of pediatric surgery unit at the National Institute of Cardiology, said this while talking to Express. Currently, the number of pediatric heart disease physicians in Pakistan is 100, while the number of pediatric heart surgery specialist surgeons is only 25. Out of which there are 7 surgeons in Karachi, 4 are in National Institute of Cardiology, one in Aga Khan Hospital, one in Liaquat National Hospital and one in SIUT.
He said that more than 80,000 children are born with holes in the heart and various heart diseases in Pakistan every year, in which 80 percent of the children have holes in the heart and 20 percent of the children have bad hair and other diseases. Ages range from one day to 14 years.
Treatment facilities for children suffering from heart diseases are less
Professor Dr. Sohail Khan Bangash said that the causes of heart diseases in children are different, including heredity, cousin marriage, viral infection in mothers during pregnancy, malnutrition and use of self-medication. But those suffering from heart disease have different symptoms of the disease, which include frequent chest infections, cold sweats during breastfeeding, shortness of breath, and tiredness or cessation of breastfeeding. are
He said that the treatment facilities for children suffering from heart diseases are very few across the country. At present, the largest center for the treatment of heart diseases in children in the whole country is the National Institute of Cardiology Karachi, where from 3 months to Children over 10 years of age undergo surgeries, he said, explaining the statistics of surgery, that 150 different types of complex operations are performed every month for children suffering from heart diseases, including 110 open heart surgeries and 35 from Includes more closed heart surgeries.
He said that the success rate of surgeries performed in NICVD is more than 90%. He said that NICVD performs heart surgeries for children completely free. ICVD also has private facilities for treatment of children’s heart diseases in the evening hours where this facility is available under a package of 5.5 lakh rupees compared to other private hospitals.
70 thousand children are born with congenital heart disease
Cardiac physician Dr. Hameedullah Malik said that more than 70,000 children are born with congenital heart disease in Pakistan every year. Congenital heart disease can be detected during the mother’s pregnancy and with its immediate treatment, 85% of the children can survive, 60% of the children in Pakistan including developing countries are poorly diagnosed and treated. Due to poor management, the rate of this disease is high in Pakistan from all over the world and only few hospitals have the facility to treat it, CHD patients need to be diagnosed early to survive but Pakistan I know very little about this disease.
He said that CHD occurs when children get this disease due to improper diet during pregnancy and inadequate food. He said that if detected in time, many children can be saved. He said that there should be hospitals for children’s heart diseases in the districts across Sindh.
Grandson’s surgery number at NICVD came 6 months later, admitted
Taslim Jatoi, the head of a family from Mirpur Khas, said that his 2-year-old grandson came to know about the hole-in-the-heart disease after 2 years when he was repeatedly sick with chest infections and stopped breathing while crying. After the diagnosis, the doctors said that he had a congenital hole in the heart, the treatment of this disease was not available in Mirpur Khas, they brought NICVD where he underwent a successful operation, but the situation was seen in the hospital that the children in the hospital I have many heart diseases and inadequate facilities. After 6 months of long waiting, my grandson’s operation was successful. Lady Fehmida said that her daughter had congenital heart wall defect. She was treated in a private hospital. He was treated at a cost of more than 7 lakh rupees.
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