PANJIM: A nine-month old baby, with a congenital heart disease, was successfully operated with first ever cutting-edge cathlab (catheterisation laboratory) procedure at Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMC), Bambolim.
The baby boy, who is healthy now, was born with a hole in heart, known as patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), which was adding stress to his already extremely underdeveloped lungs and other organs.
The cutting-edge cathlab is a heart procedure developed for extremely premature babies. The GMC cardiology team headed by Dr Manjunath Dessai operated the child on Monday, August 2.
Health Minister Vishwajit Rane personally visited GMC to inquire about the child. “I am very proud of the cardiology team for successfully treating the child,” he said.
GMC dean Dr Shivanand Bandekar said the baby was born with congenital heart disease. “The hole in the heart was little large in size and needed a major open heart surgery. However, our cardiology department considered the case for percutaneous closure,” he said.
Dean said the procedure is first of its kind done in GMC. Associate Professor of Cardiology Department Michelle Viegas Parab said when the parent’s first brought the child to the department; the child had a heart failure and pneumonia. “The challenge was that the child was just five kg despite being nine months old. The hole in the heart was not letting the child grow like normal child,” she explained.
“We managed to overcome all the challenges and successful in the procedure,” she said adding “the hole was closed and happy to say that the child is doing well”. The mother of the child has thanked GMC for saving her baby.
“We had no idea whether our child will survive or not. Even when he was taken to the operation theatre, our only prayer was he should come out alive. I am grateful to GMC who treated us like a family and not patients,” she said.
The mother expressed her gratitude to the Health Minister for personally visiting the hospital to inquire about the child.
