Private chain of hospitals provides free treatment to infants with congenital heart defects

The COVID-19 pandemic has tested India’s health infrastructure and put it under immense stress. The lack of beds and medical resources to treat patients hasn’t only affected those infected by the coronavirus, but other patients as well. Nowhere has this shortage been more critical than in antenatal and postnatal care. For expecting mothers facing potential birth complications, this could prove fatal. For expectant mothers facing potential birth complications, and babies born with congenital defects, this scarcity could be a life and death issue. Sri Sathya Sai Health and Education Trust, which runs a chain of hospitals in Maharashtra’s Navi Mumbai, Haryana’s Palwal and Chhatisgarh’s Naya Raipur, has mobilised its pediatric cardiac surgery services across the three hospitals to provide free treatment to infants born with congenital heart defects. When Devanand Bharati, a labourer from Kharora, arrived at the Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Hospital in Chhattisgarh’s Nava Raipur, his son Tanmay was in critical condition because of a malfunctioning vein in his heart. Five days later, he’d made a recovery. A couple from Assam with a child battling Tetralogy of Fallot and the son of a fisherman from Alibaugh, born with a congenital heart defect, received similar treatment. The Sanjeevani Hospital community outreach programme has also identified vulnerable pregnant women and, through tele-consultations, provided medical and psychological support. Some  hospital staff and volunteers have also delivered food rations to homes of pregnant women during the lockdown.