K.G. Hospital’s outreach heart care programme
Kanagajothi (centre) with K.G. Hospital Chairman G. Bakthavathsalam (right) and cardiac surgeon T. Jayarama Pai (left) after she underwent the mitral valve replacement surgery.20 year-old woman has benefited from the Coimbatore-based K.G. Hospital’s outreach heart care programme to provide poor people in both rural and urban areas access to modern medical facilities.A press release from hospital chairman G. Bakthavathsalam said the woman, Kanagajothi of Rajapalayam in Madurai District, had difficulty in breathing for the last five years.She was not able to walk even 10 steps for the past two months and was also not able to lie down flat for the last 15 days.The woman underwent a screening at the free heart check-up camp conducted by the hospital at Rajapalayam sometime ago. She was found to be suffering from rheumatic heart disease, with mitral valve disease and heart failure.The girl belonged to a poor family. Her mother earned a livelihood by working as a labourer. The girl had lost her father at a young age.The mother and daughter went to the nearby hospitals in Madurai where the girl was advised to undergo a heart surgery.She was in no position to afford a mitral valve replacement surgery that cost Rs. 2 lakh, the release said. She then came to K.G. Hospital, where she was admitted and treated for heart failure for 20 days totally free of cost. She, however, needed a mitral valve replacement surgery and the hospital decided to do this also free of cost.
Chief Cardiac Surgeon T. Jayarama Pai and his team comprising S. Krishna Kishore, R. Muthukumar and M. Karthick Babu operated on the girl 10 days ago to replace the valve.The hospital chairman said in the release that the girl recovered very well after staying for four days in the intensive care unit after the surgery. She was discharged on Saturday (August 11). She could lead a normal life, Dr. Bakthavathsalam said.Dr. Pai said rheumatic heart disease was very common in the country and thousands of patients like Kanagajothi were waiting for valve replacement surgeries because they did not have enough money. He said that many such surgeries could be done free of cost with the help of philanthropists, including those in and around Coimbatore.Dr. Bakthavathsalam claimed that more than 100 such surgeries had been done at his hospital free of cost during the last seven years and all these patients were doing well.
