Free heart surgery scheme for BPL children

Guwahati: There is some good news for children of Below Poverty Line (BPL) families. According to a press release, the Dr Bhaba Das Foundation of Guwahati has launched a free heart surgery scheme for the children below 14 years of age who belong to Below Poverty Line families.

The foundation's Medical Director, Dr BP Chakrabarty said that the purpose of this foundation is to give services to the financially weak people of the North-East. Besides free heart surgeries, the foundation also attaches importance on cancer treatment, medical education, nursing education, scientific research etc., financial help to orphans and infrastructure improvement in different medical organizations. Keeping this in mind, the foundation was started in 2017 for different health-related programmes and orientation programmes for common people of the North-East, which included distribution of different foods, medicines and clothes for the flood-affected area, sanitizers, masks etc., and free COVID-19 vaccines in association with the Government of Assam.

The foundation has already given financial assistance for free heart surgery of some children of Below Poverty Line families. Dr JP Kalita, cardiac surgeon, added that every year 2 lakh children suffer from congenital heart disease in India. After surgery, the recovery rate is 90%. The ailments include hole within the heart, blood mixing up, blue baby etc., and the operations for these are very expensive. Many of the families cannot afford such surgeries and many children die as a result. Parents of such children can contact 70023-80335 for details, the press release added.

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