THE Sai Prema Foundation (SPF) completed a successful week-long awareness campaign highlighting the impact of congenital heart disease (CHD) and the important role of early diagnosis and treatment in the form of surgical intervention.
Speaking on the commemoration of the Congenital Heart Disease Awareness Week at the Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Children’s Heart Hospital Fiji last Thursday, medical director Dr Krupali Tappoo said their foundation’s aim was to work towards improving care for congenital heart disease patients with the new hospital.
“A congenital heart defect is an abnormality of the heart that a baby is born with. There are over 40 types of congenital heart defects and they could range from simple defects with no symptoms to complex lesions with severe and life-threatening symptoms.
“The issue could be a hole between the top chambers of the heart or the bottom chambers of the heart, blood vessels that are in the incorrect position,” she said.
“The team created awareness through social media campaign with our heart ambassadors with facts and information about the most common birth defect in the world.
“We don’t really have local experts or facilities or surgeons that can operate on children with congenital heart disease, and thus far we’ve been fortunate to have visiting teams from overseas but with the completion of the hospital, we hope to do more for our children and essentially give them a new gift of life.
“The Sanjeevani Children’s Heart Hospital is nearing completion and currently work is continuing with medical gas installation by Biomedical Engineer Ricky, from New Zealand and installation of equipment by our Biomedical Engineers, Roy and Sam Morris from the United States of America,” the director added. SPF hopes to inaugurate the hospital in the coming months that will provide free surgery for children with congenital heart disease in Fiji and the South Pacific.
