40-days-old baby brought from Mangaluru to Jayadeva Hospital

A 40-days-old baby boy brought from Mangaluru in record time by an ambulance driver to Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases last Thursday was operated on Saturday night in open-heart surgery for TAPVC (Complex Syanotic Congenital Heart Disease) and is doing fine.

"Baby has been extubated and is no longer on the ventilator. He's recovering well," said Dr CN Manjunath, Director, Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences. Another baby brought on Monday to Jayadeva Hospital from Shivamogga's government-run McGann Hospital was premature, weighing 1.5 kg.

"The baby had three heart holes but the cardiac intervention was not required at this stage for the baby. So it was referred to Indira Gandhi Institute for Child Health for neonatal care. We did not admit that case. We did an ECHO test and evaluated the baby and then referred the child," Manjunath said.

Transfer policy of hospitals

The cardiologist regretted that hospitals weren't following the standard practice of talking to doctors in the hospital where patients were being referred to, to allow time for preparation. The babies were sent with an OPD slip, discharge summary and an ECHO report.

The baby sent on Thursday was born in Bellathangady with development of cough and breathing difficulties, and brought to Father Muller hospital in Mangaluru.

"It is very unfortunate that the doctors or hospitals who are referring such cases do not have the minimum courtesy of exchanging medical reports and documents before referring such cases. We're coming to know only through media that such patients are en route. They can even WhatsApp the reports if nothing else," Manjunath rued.

He regretted that scan reports were not available with the babies in both the transferred cases. "If the patient is treatable, they can come. If untreatable, the journey is waste and stressful both for the patient and in terms of finances for the parents," he added.

Another green corridor

A 22-year-old man who was admitted to Apollo BGS Hospital, Mysuru for a traumatic brain injury was declared brain dead at 4:30 am on Tuesday and the family consented for organ donation. The heart was transported at 10.30 am from Apollo to Narayana Health City, Bengaluru with the help of the green corridor provided by the traffic police. A distance of 178 km was covered in a span of 127 minutes.

A heart transplant on 39-year-old suffering from Dilated Cardiomyopathy was successfully done