Understanding Congenital Heart Disease: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatments

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Congenital heart defects refer to defects in the heart that children are born with. These are one of the most common congenital defects globally. In India too, 200,000+ children are born with a congenital heart defect (CHD). These are the numbers of the cases that are recorded – there maybe many more which go undiagnosed and hence untreated. Only 25 per cent of the children diagnosed with a congenital heart defect are able to get the required treatment. A lack of awareness and access to resources are the biggest challenges in children getting timely treatment. Organisations like Genesis Foundation, a congenital heart foundation India has been taking steps to both build awareness and provide financial treatment to those who cannot afford the cost of treatment. The treatment for CHD is expensive and families that do not earn enough to meet their daily needs have to depend on funds they receive as a congenital heart disease donation to support the treatment. Symptoms of Congenital Heart

A Ray of Hope: How Screening Camps are Providing Children with Congenital Heart Defects Access to Life-Saving Treatment.

 Access to healthcare continues to remain a big challenge in countries like India. While the government has played a significant role in improving this to a large extent, there continue to exist many areas where people have limited or no access to specialized healthcare.


This is especially true when one talks of congenital heart defects. Congenital hearts Defects(CHDs) are the leading birth defects in the country. Inspite of that awareness regarding the same is very less leading to a delay in diagnosis and treatment. The treatment for these defects continues to remains expensive and there are not many facilities that offer freeheart surgery for poor in India.

With improvements in medicine, most children born with a CHD can live a near normal life, given they receive a timely diagnosis and treatment. However, since awareness remains low and the number of pediatric cardiac care centers remain low, not many children are able to get detected on time. Not only are the pediatric cardiac acre centers limited in number they are also spatially not well distributed, leaving many areas with no access to these facilities. In such situations, screening camps have been playing a pivotal role in screening and diagnosing children who have a CHD and treating them on time.

Genesis Foundation, the best NGO in Haryana, for example supports the medical treatment of underprivileged children born with a CHD and has been regularly conducting these camps in collaboration with it’s hospital partners to diagnose and support children who would otherwise go undiagnosed and intreated. Some of the benefits of screening camps are

Early Detection through Screening Camps: One of the primary objectives of these screening camps is to detect congenital heart defects at an early stage. Medical professionals, often volunteers and experts in pediatric cardiology, conduct thorough screenings to identify children with cardiac abnormalities. bay taking diagnostic tools to the doorstep of families, many conditions can be diagnosed on time and hence treated properly.

Increasing Awareness and Education: Beyond early detection, screening camps contribute significantly to raising awareness about congenital heart defects and other conditions. When a camp is organized in any location, a lot of outreach activities are carried out before the camp which makes people aware about the specific condition for which the camp is being conducted. Empowering families with knowledge enables them to recognize potential issues early on and seek prompt medical attention.

Mobile Healthcare Units: Screening camps in general take healthcare to the doorstep of communities that otherwise would not be able to access the same. This door-to door availability of health services has had a big impact in improving the mortality and morbidity for many conditions such as anemia and maternal health.   

Collaboration with Healthcare Institutions: Screening camps often organized as a collaboration between healthcare institutions and charitable organizations to ensure that identified cases receive appropriate follow-up care. This collaboration helps bridge the gap between diagnosis and treatment, ensuring that children with congenital heart defects receive timely medical attention.

Financial Support and Assistance: When screening camps are organized by hospitals and NGOs, these organizations also organize was of supporting the treatment for conditions that are expensive. Many hospitals and NGOs for example support free heart surgery for poor in India as it continues to remain an expensive treatment both for adults and in the case of CHD.


Conclusion: Screening camps for congenital heart defects in India represent a ray of hope for countless children and their families. By combining early detection, awareness campaigns, mobile healthcare units, collaboration with healthcare institutions, and financial support initiatives, these camps are making significant strides in ensuring that every child, regardless of their socio-economic background, has the opportunity to receive life-saving treatment. As this initiative continues to grow, it holds the promise of transforming the landscape of pediatric cardiac care in India.

If you would like to support a screening camp for the heart defects for children then visit www.genesis-foundation.net. Genesis Foundation is the best NGO in Haryana supporting lesser privileged children born with congenital heart defects across the country.

 

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