Armed with a ‘heart–lung machine’, a team of doctors at Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital (TVMCH) performed a three-hour-long surgery to treat a poor teen’s atrial septal defect (ASD) wherein the blood flows between upper chambers of the heart.
As K. Ravithra (15) of Chidambarapuram near Sankarankovil had been suffering from cough and palpitation for the past one month, she was admitted to the TVMCH where the professors of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery detected the problem and performed the corrective surgery for pericardial patch on May 20.
“The heart of Ms. Ravithra was stopped completely during the surgery and the heart and lungs were bypassed with the heart-lung machine,” L.D. Thulasiram, Dean, TVMCH, told reporters here on Friday.
Marvin Baylis, Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery, who headed the team of surgeons, said the girl was suffering from the congenital disorder which was mainly due to consanguineous marriage. “If not corrected at an early stage, it may lead to cardiac failure and reduce the patient’s lifespan by even one or two decades,” said Dr. Baylis, who was assisted by Senior Assistant Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery R. Sanjeev Pandian, Associate Professor of Anaesthesiology Ebenezer Joel Kumar and anaesthetists Prakash Bose and Shenbagarajan.
The girl, who has scored 441 out of 500 in the recently declared Secondary School Leaving Certificate examinations, is in good shape and all set to be discharged from the hospital.
“The girl’s father, Kalidas, a labourer, would have to spend Rs. 3 lakh if the surgery had been performed in a private hospital. Since the surgical procedure was done at the TVMCH under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme, Mr. Kalidas did not spend even a rupee for this treatment,” Dr. Thulasiram said.
