Health Minister K.K. Shailaja assessing the facilities at the cath lab in the SAT Hospital in the capital. more-in It’s two days since the first cath lab in the public sector for children began functioning at the SAT Hospital here, and the government-run facility has extended its services to 16 children, between 10 months of age to 16 years. They were given the otherwise costly treatment free of cost and will be able to leave the hospital within two days. The cath lab treatments were carried out by the hospital’s cardiology department head S. Lekshmi, under the guidance of K. Sivakumar, interventional cardiologist at the Madras Medical Mission Hospital. The anaesthesia and cardiac surgery departments of the Government Medical College also provided support. The treatment offered here included passing an instrument through the veins, without operating upon the patient. Procedures including balloon septostomy, which could save the lives of new-born babies and expansion of shrunken valves, could also be done in this lab. The children would not feel any pain during the treatment. After treatment, the child would have to take only one medicine for a period of six months. Health Minister K.K. Shylaja said one in hundred babies in Kerala were found to have congenital heart diseases and more than half of such problems could be treated successfully through cath labs without open heart surgeries. The treatment which otherwise would cost over ?1.5 lakh in private hospitals, was being provided here free-of-cost. The cath lab became functional at the SAT hospital at a cost of ?6 crore as part of the plan to expand the paediatric cardiology department. The Minister said 13 new teaching and non-teaching posts were created. She also applauded the team of doctors who provided treatment to so many children within two days of the cath lab’s opening.

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