Salem govt hospital repairs heart defects in six patients through minimally invasive procedure

SALEM: Doctors in the Salem Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College and Hospital have repaired heart defects in six people through device closure, a minimally invasive and catheter-based procedure.The patients included a five-year-old girl and a 19-year-old woman with patent ductus arteriosus (a congenital heart defect). The other patients were a 29-year-old woman, a four-year-old boy, a 14-year-old boy and a 15-year-old boy, all with a heart condition called atrial septal defect. "Their heart defects were diagnosed through echocardiography. The defects were fully corrected with an interventional device," hospital dean Dr J Devi Meenal told reporters on Saturday. The procedures were carried out by a medical team comprising doctors and nurses from the cardiology department, the anaesthesiology department and the cardiology surgery department. Doctors from a private hospital were also part of the team.The procedures, each of which can cost between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 3 lakh, were carried out free of cost through the Chief Minister's Insurance Scheme. According to the dean, 15 people have undergone device closure cardiac procedures in the hospital. Recently, a 29-year-old woman underwent an open-heart surgery in the hospital.