New course in paediatric cardiology at RML Hospital

New Delhi: In a move expected to improve treatme-nt options for children with heart disease, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital will start a super-speciali-ty DM course in paediatric cardiology from the 2025–26 academic session. The programme has been approved by Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and will be offered at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences (ABVIMS) and RML Hospital with an intake of two seats. The approval follows an inspection and recommendations by the university's joint assessment committee and is based on permissions issued earlier by the directorate general of health services. Health experts say the initiative is significant as India has limited training capacity in paediatric cardiology, a specialised field dealing with heart disorders in infants and children, including congenital heart defects. Currently, only a handful of institutions offer a DM in paediatric cardiology, leading to a shortage of trained specialists. Dr Dinesh Yadav, head of the paediatrics department at RML Hospital, said the new DM programme will strengthen public sector capacity, reduce waiting times for procedures and help train more specialists in this niche area. He said the course will be conducted within the department of paediatrics, enabling trainees to focus on childhood heart diseases, neonatal cardiac care and long-term management of congenital conditions. In many institutions, paediatric cardiology training is conducted within adult cardiology departments, where the focus largely remains on cardiac diseases in adults. Dr Yadav said congenital heart defects are among the most common birth defects, affecting nearly two lakh newborns in India every year. He added that the department will emphasise catheter-based interventions — such as closing holes in the heart or dilating narrowed vessels — which can often treat conditions without open-heart surgery. India sees a high num-ber of children born with congenital heart disease annually, increasing the demand for specialised paediatric cardiac care. However, the number of trained doctors remains limited. Doctors said expanding super-speciality training programmes in govt hospitals can help bridge this gap and improve access to treatment, especially for families dependent on public healthcare. With RML Hospital serving patients from Delhi and neighbouring states, the new programme is expected to strengthen both training and treatment facilities for children with complex heart conditions.