Kochi: Amrita Hospital, renowned across the country for its exemplary healthcare services, has taken another significant step forward. The hospital will provide comprehensive free cardiac care—including screening, pre-surgical evaluation, heart surgeries, catheter-based interventions, medicines, hospital stay, post-operative care, and follow-up care—to children up to 18 years of age referred by the Odisha government. This initiative aims to offer holistic, cost-free treatment to children suffering from congenital and rheumatic heart diseases. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Government of Odisha and Amrita Hospital, Kochi, to facilitate this project.
The agreement was signed at Kharavela Bhawan in Bhubaneswar in the presence of Odisha Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr. Mukesh Mahaling and Health & Family Welfare Department Commissioner-cum-Secretary S. Aswathy, IAS. The MoU was signed by Dr. D. Brunda, IAS, Director of the National Health Mission (NHM), representing the Odisha Health and Family Welfare Department, and Dr. P.K. Brijesh, Clinical Professor, Department of Pediatric and Adult Congenital Heart Surgery, representing Amrita Hospital.
Dr. D. Brunda, IAS, stated that cardiac screening camps will be organized across various districts in Odisha, particularly in areas with limited medical facilities, to identify children with heart ailments. She added that healthcare workers will receive training for early detection, diagnosis, and primary treatment of pediatric heart diseases, alongside efforts to strengthen awareness among local health workers and the community.
Dr. R. Krishna Kumar noted that Amrita Hospital directly examines over 2,000 children annually through heart screening camps, providing surgeries or catheter-based treatments to more than 750 of them. He highlighted that these treatments, which typically cost between ₹2 lakh and ₹4 lakh, will now be made available free of charge to more children in the state through this collaboration with the Odisha government.
