New-born survives life through a beating heart surgery

~Wockhardt Hospitals intervenes in the golden hour~

January 05th 2008: The Pediatric Cardiac team at Wockhardt Hospitals, Mumbai
performed yet another life saving exemplary surgery on a 4 hour old baby giving an
elixir of life to the new born. Pediatric Cardiac Consultants at Wockhardt
Hospital have successfully performed a critical 2-hour beating heart surgery to
allow the flow of blood from the baby’s heart to her lungs, thereby enabling the
child to breathe normal. This life threatening, rare cardiac complication in
neonates is called Pulmonary Atresia, that requires to be addressed in a critical
window period of just a few hours of the baby’s birth, was accomplished in the
state-of-the-art dedicated pediatric cardiac set up of the hospital.

Addressing the press conference Dr. Suresh Joshi, Consultant Pediatric Cardiac
Surgeon, Wockhardt Hospitals, who operated upon the baby, explains, “In her case,
the pulmonary valve of the heart which controls blood to the lungs was not
developed therefore no blood was reaching the lungs.” The child, however, was able
to stay alive for a few critical hours due to ductus arteriosus, a valve that is
meant for its fetal existence only. This valve shuts close naturally after birth
and the corrective surgery was required within this window.”

“We were able to perform the life saving surgery immediately after birth because
the crucial foetal echocardiography was performed on the baby during the second
trimester through which the diagnosis of pulmonary atresia was made “said Dr Swati
Garekar,Consultant Pediatric Cardiologist, Wockhardt Hospitals.

Minutes after her birth out of a planned caesarian section in a private city
hospital the baby was shifted to Wockhardt Hospitals at Mulund in a cardiac
ambulance. Within four hours of her birth, the baby was wheeled in for a beating
heart BT Shunt procedure wherein a synthetic tube (shunt) was inserted to connect
a new artery -- the sub clavian artery -- to the pulmonary artery. The sub clavian
artery supplies blood to the arms but is now redirected to share supply to the
arms and the lungs.

Present at the occasion Dr. Snehal Kulkarni, Pediatric Cardiologist,Wockhardt

Hospitals said, “In India, over 2.5 million children are born with heart defects
every year and many lives are lost due to lack of proper infrastructure,
awareness, and poor planning at time of birth. Some 3 per cent of these cases are
of those born with Pulmonary Atresia. Timely detection and early treatment can not
only save a child but also help him lead a normal and healthy life.”

Dr. Swati Garekar, Pediatric Cardiologist at Wockhardt Hospitals also added,

“Foetal Echocardiography is used to diagnose heart defects before a child is born.
The diagnosis done through foetal echocardiography helps in treating the heart
defect in the child at an early stage especially when many times some
interventions needs to be done immediately after the birth. Since foetal
echocardiography was done in this case the defect was identified and immediately
after her birth the baby was brought to Wockhardt Hospitals for treatment.”

“If abnormalities of the foetal heart are discovered by a prenatal screening

procedure, this special examination of the heart of can be performed with a
referral from a physician which will help identifying the defect at the right
stage, perform corrective procedures and reduce the mortality and morbidity rate”
she added.

Wockhardt Hospitals has established a full-fledged pediatric cardiac care unit at

the facility with state- of- art technology and full time Pediatric Cardiac
experts who not only perform critical surgeries but also believes in putting the
patients back to their normal life.

Added Mr. Parag P father of the baby "The gynaecologist did a sonography post
which the condition in our baby was brought to light in the 27th week of
pregnancy. Once the diagnosis was confirmed we were referred to Dr. Suresh Joshi
at Wockhardt Hospitals. Dr. Joshi educated us about the condition the baby was in,
the latest treatment procedures, the stages of operations and the positive results
post operation. With this information me and my wife were in a position to take a
collective and speedy decision to treat our child as early as possible after her
birth.”

About Wockhardt Hospitals:

Wockhardt Hospitals Group is one amongst the largest private healthcare providers
in India for the past 18 years. Amongst the fastest growing hospital networks in
Asia, Wockhardt Hospitals operates a chain of super-specialty hospitals in Mumbai,
Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Rajkot, Surat, Bhavnagar & Nashik. As a center of
excellence, the hospital provides clinical expertise focusing on its core
specialties –Cardiac care, Neuro sciences, Orthopedics and Minimal Access Surgery.

Wockhardt Hospital is synonymous with state-of-the-art, high quality care that is

comparable to the global standards in healthcare. It has an exclusive association
in India with Harvard Group and is a treatment destination for patients from US,
UK and other European Countries besides South Asia, South East Asia, Middle East
and Africa. Wockhardt Hospitals, Bangalore and Mumbai have received the highly
coveted accreditation from Joint Commission International (JCI), USA, which is the
global benchmark in healthcare accreditation. It puts Wockhardt Hospitals at a par
with international centers of medical excellence. The certification is a
reflection of Wockhardt Hospital’s commitment to stringent quality standards. The
hospital is the first in South Asia to be recognized by the American Blue Cross
and Blue Shield association in its worldwide network of participating hospitals.
It is recognized by 17 leading insurance providers across the globe, including
CIGNA.

www.wockhardthospitals.net

For more information please contact:

Mediacom PR 40280800
Punam 9819394800 / Bhaskar 983336579/ Nikita 9820993834