Saving Sri Lankan children at Kochi

Rotary Club of Cochin West, RID 3201, in association with RC Colombo West, RID 3220, Sri Lanka, sponsored the surgical treatment for 10 Sri Lankan children suffering from congenital heart disease at the Amrita Institute of Medical ­Sciences and Research Centre, Kochi. The children were treated in two batches ­during Oct and Nov last year after DG Rajmohan Nair launched the project in October at the hospital.

These children are part of a batch of 60 children from the island nation identified for corrective surgery under Project Neona, named after an 18-month-old baby who died in a boat accident near the Lakshadweep islands. Her family is also extending support for this project which would give a second life for little children.

All 60 children will be treated within six months, said assistant governor Ajith Gopinath. Project Neona will also ensure capacity building of paediatric cardiology and fetal medicine in Sri Lanka to make the doctors self-reliant in this field. Thirty Sri Lankan nurses will be provided basic training at the Amrita Institute to handle CHD patients. Three cardiac surgeons will be given two-months observership each in paediatric cardiac surgery at the Kochi hospital. Experts from the hospital will provide workshops twice a year in Sri Lanka for select gynaecologists and radiologists for fetal detection of CHD.

The total cost of the project is ₹1.6 crore, said Gopinath.