CONGENITAL HEART DEFECTS (CHD) IN INDIA

Congenital Heart Defects are developmental defects of heart present at time of birth.

- VIRESH MAHAJAN

The incidence of congenital heart defects is estimated at 8-10 / 1000 live births and approximately 200000 children are born with CHD every year in India. 20 % of these defects are critical in nature and need treatment in the first year of life and about 15-20% of the defects are mild in nature requiring just medical follow up.

The rapid strides in medical development have resulted in excellent outcomes reaching 97 % success rate in India which is comparable to world standards. Despite the developments in India, the current infrastructure allows treatment in form of surgery or intervention to only about 30000 children resulting in huge accumulating volumes every year. There are only limited number of hospitals providing such services and most are in private sector and not geographically well distributed. Major challenges in India include lack of awareness, lack of such specialized services in remote areas and financial limitations. Lot of efforts have been made by Government of India, Private hospitals and non-governmental organizations to maximize availability of treatment to such children.