Infant With Severe Heart Defects Travels On-Road Through Three States Before Life Saving Surgery At Fortis In Delhi

NEW DELHI || A team of doctors at Fortis Escorts Heart Institute (FEHI) at Okhla in Delhi worked tirelessly to transport, treat & save the life of a 3-month-old baby through an urgent surgical intervention here recently.

The baby – named Vikrant Singh Rajput – was suffering from a number of Congenital Heart Defects (CHD) for which urgent surgical intervention was vital.

The family of the baby ran from pillar to post and drove through three states before he was admitted to be treated under Dr K S Iyer, Executive Director, Paediatric Cardiac Surgery and Dr Parvathi Iyer, Director, Paediatric Intensive Care at FEHI.

The one & half months old baby during a regular examination was diagnosed with multiple Congenital Heart Defects conditions like ventricular septal defect, coarctation of Aorta with mitral regurgitation in their hometown in Bihar. They sought a second opinion in a Kolkata hospital and was advised urgent surgical intervention.

However, due to the COVID pandemic conditions, the baby could not be operated. They then consulted Dr Parvathi Iyer telephonically on the condition of the baby and the parents were advised to bring Vikrant to FEHI. Because of lack of any air or rail transport they decided to travel from Kolkata to Delhi by road. However, the baby became sicker with acute and severe breathing difficulty on the way and so the baby got admitted in a local hospital in Katihar, Bihar.

Explaining the serious condition of the case, Dr Parvathi Iyer said, “The baby was in a critical condition. There was an urgent need to stabilize him before he could be brought to Delhi from Katihar, so that he does not collapse. We worked with the local doctors in their hometown to stabilize the baby. Continuous video calls were done to give parents the required mental strength and coordinate the treatment plan with local doctors during this trying time.”

Dr Parvathi Iyer made frequent calls to boost the morale of the parents encouraging them that the baby will recover. We would also like to acknowledge the amazing support of Dr Shambunath and his team who worked tirelessly in coordination with Dr Parvathi to stabilize the baby. Vikrant gradually improved, become afebrile, breathing difficulty got better and was finally able to travel. They reached Delhi on August 17 by train and the baby was immediately admitted for preparation for surgery.”

On August 20, Dr K S Iyer performed the surgery to correct the multiple heart defects like repair of coarctation of Aorta, correction of Ventricular Septal Defect and repair of the Mitral Valve. Post-surgery, the baby was kept in the pediatric ICU for recovery until he recovered completely. The baby was discharged completely healthy on August 29, 2020.

Expressing their feelings, the mother of the baby, Neha Singh said, “We are grateful to the entire team at FEHI but especially Dr Parvathy Iyer who supported the treatment right from the beginning and Dr K S Iyer for performing the challenging surgeries to make our baby hale and hearty again. It was not easy amidst the pandemic and lockdown challenges, but with everyone’s support and blessings, we are really happy that our baby is now completely healed.”