A network of hospitals are now conducting cardiac surgeries for correcting congenital heart diseases in children supported by the Chhattisgarh Government’s ‘Mukhyamantri Bal Hriday Suraksha Yojana’.
The scheme was started on July 28, 2008, in various affiliated hospitals of the State. In Bhilai-based Apollo BSR Hospital only, surgery of nearly 750-800 children have been performed under the scheme, officials stated.
Other hospitals that are authorised under the scheme are Escort Heart Centre Raipur, Ramakrishna Care Raipur and Apollo Hospital Bilaspur and Raipur based Balaji Super Specialty Hospital.
This scheme has given a new life to my daughter also, says Doman lal Sahu, a resident of village Jevra Sirsa in Durg district, whose 2-year-old daughter Hetal underwent free heart operation under the scheme.
Doman's financial condition was too weak to afford the expenses of a cardiac surgery, and in that situation Mukhyamantri Bal Hriday Suraksha Yojana proved to be a saviour. Doman said that he was terrified when he came to know about his daughter's congenital heart defect soon after her birth, and cardiac surgery was simply unaffordable for him.
All he could do was pray for her daughter's life and health. Meanwhile, he came to know about Chhattisgarh Government's Mukhyamantri Bal Hriday Suraksha Yojana, under which free treatment and operation of heart patient children (age group 1-15 years) are performed.
He said that he got his daughter's medical examination done at Bhilai based Apollo BSR Hospital. Soon after, Hetal's cardiac surgery was performed successfully. Now the girl is recovering fast.