41,000 kids in K'taka have congenital heart diseases, less than 50% have received treatment: Data
Bengaluru: Nearly 41,000 school-going children in Karnataka have been diagnosed with congenital heart diseases over the past three years, but fewer than half of these children have received the necessary treatment, according to data cited by Deccan Herald on Sunday.
Congenital heart diseases, which refer to problems in development of the heart before birth, were identified through screenings conducted under the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) programme.
“After the children are screened and the heart disease is identified, they are referred to tertiary care centers and a few other institutions which provide free treatment and are empanelled under the Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust (SAST)," DH quoted a senior official from the health department as saying. The official added these children are provided treatment under the Ayushman Bharat-Arogya Karnataka scheme.
Despite these efforts, the official noted that tracking and following up with each child remains a significant challenge.
To address this issue, the state health department is reportedly planning to integrate pregnancy scanning with newborn check-ups to ensure that any anomalies detected during pregnancy are documented and accessible to pediatricians. According to Harsh Gupta, Principal Secretary (Health), most congenital heart diseases can be identified during pregnancy anomaly scans. "However, data is not being recorded and is not available after the delivery. Hence, we want to integrate scanning details into the database and this will allow further follow up of such children,” DH quoted Gupta as saying.
Once the system is operational, newborns identified as high-risk for congenital diseases will be closely monitored throughout their development.
A doctor working at a private hospital in Bengaluru highlighted that early detection and treatment play a huge role in determining the quality of life of these children. "If identified early and treated soon, the outcomes will be excellent and the kids can practically live life almost normally,” DH quoted her as saying.
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Trump says he ‘hasn’t even thought about’ continuing Iran ceasefire
Washington: US President Donald Trump has said he has not yet considered whether he would continue the ceasefire involving Iran, while also claiming the United States holds the advantage in negotiations.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said he was prepared to make a deal with “whoever is running the show” in Iran.
“They are fighting with each other, there’s tremendous infighting. They’re probably fighting for leadership in many cases. I think they’re fighting not to be leader because we knocked out two levels of leaders,” he said.
Trump added, “When they want they can call me. We have all the cards, we’ve won everything.”
Referring to ongoing negotiations, he said, “They gave us a paper that should’ve been better. And, interestingly, immediately when I cancelled it [envoy trip to Pakistan], within 10 minutes we got a new paper that was much better.”
“We talked about they will not have a nuclear weapon, very simple … They offered a lot, but not enough,” he added.
When asked whether he would continue the ceasefire, Trump replied, “I haven’t even thought about it.”
The remarks come as uncertainty remains over the future of the temporary truce and broader negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
