Bangalore, Karnataka -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/26/2012 -- Cupid on Valentine’s Day did something heartfelt for a baby girl, but allowed doctors at Brahmananda Narayana Hrudayalaya (BNH), on Tamolia, to take credit. Kashi Saipriya, was born on December 19, 2011, at Tinplate Hospital, with a faulty heart. Chances of her survival were slim, making parents K. Kiran Kumar and K. Rajni of Carriage Colony throw up their hands in despair.
On February 14, in a major leap in cardiac care, BNH conducted a close-heart surgery on the 45-day-old baby, making her the youngest in Jharkhand, Bihar and Odisha to undergo such a high-risk procedure successfully. A medical team led by consultant cardiac surgeon Perwaiz Alam and consultant cardiac anaesthesiologist Upender Singh performed the operation. The baby was sent home on February 19. Only after three days, when Kashi Saipriya was reported to be doing fine, was the media informed.
Doctors simplified Kashi’s problem. In layman’s terms, her heart didn’t develop normally inside her mother’s womb, which led to multiple anomalies after birth. There was a big hole in her heart, an faulty link between two vessels carrying pure and impure blood and pressure on her lungs.
Pure and impure blood mixed all the time, leading to Kashi breathing in great hiccups of air and gasping. Her parents — father Kiran works at a construction firm in Hyderabad — took her to BNH, where paediatric cardiologist Amitabha Chatterje suggested a two-stage operation. The first was needed immediately. The second, so said the doctor, would be needed around her fifth birthday. Alam was faced with a tiny heart and a big challenge.
“Operating on a days-old infant is a real challenge,” he said, adding that contrary to perception, it wasn’t about the size of the heart that made the procedure difficult, but the the reconstruction of arteries. All this at Rs 95, 000 only.
Mother Rajni (27) can’t get over the miracle. “We can’t thank the doctors and hospital staff enough,” she said.
Which change in Kashi has struck the mother most? “My daughter breathes normally and sleeps,” she smiled.
“We’re truly happy for Kashi,” endorsed hospital spokesperson Athar Harim.
“Previously, such patients would have needed to go to big cities for this complex surgery.”