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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West Asia war: Vessel carrying 20,000 tonnes of LPG reaches Gujarat crossing Strait of Hormuz
Kandla (Gujarat) (PTI): A vessel carrying 20,000 metric tonnes of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) arrived at Deendayal Port Authority in Kandla in Gujarat after crossing the Strait of Hormuz amid the West Asia crisis, officials said on Sunday.
The Marshall Islands-flagged MV SYMI started its journey from Qatar and docked at the port in Kandla around 11.30 pm on Saturday after crossing the Strait of Hormuz on May 13, they added.
Since early March, 13 India-flagged vessels, comprising 12 LPG tankers and one crude oil tanker, have crossed the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway close to the coast of Oman through which roughly one-fifth of the world's energy supplies pass.
It has been severely disrupted by the conflict in West Asia that started on February 28, with the US and Israel launching joint attacks on Iran, triggering retaliatory strikes. It has resulted in one of the worst energy crisis the world has seen in recent decades.
Incidentally, at a special meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UNECOSOC) on safeguarding energy and supply flows, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Parvathaneni Harish said targeting commercial shipping, endangering civilian crew and impeding freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz is "unacceptable".
On May 13, an India-flagged commercial vessel came under attack off the coast of Oman.
Omani authorities rescued all 14 crew members of the vessel sailing from Somalia, but it was not immediately known who carried out the strike.
