Her heart failure was controlled with medicines and the child was taken up for heart surgery. Dr. Sushant Srivastava, Chief cardiac surgeon of the hospital, operated the child on the 18 th Sept. 2004. After successful operation the child made an uneventful recovery.

Dr. Sushant said a connection between the two sides of the heart is an abnormality present at birth and is referred to as congenital heart disease. This connection can be present at the level of the atria or the collecting chambers of the heart, the ventricles or the pumping chambers of the heart or the major arteries of the heart. It leads to shunting of blood from the left to the right side of the heart and compromise of the circulation of blood to vital organs of the body. A large connection between the two arteries such as was present in this child leads to excessive blood flow to the lungs at a high pressure. The result is symptoms such as breathlessness, recurrent lung infection leading to pnemmonia, and retardation of growth, If left uncorrected, later in life it can lead to permanent lung damage making the condition inoperable. Therefore, timely medical attention and surgery are necessary for best results.

Dr. Sushant Srivastava further elaborated that with advancement in the techniques of cardiac surgery, hope could be offered both to the very young with birth defects of the heart and to the very old with coronary artery disease or degenerative diseases of the heart valves. Present on the occasion were other children with birth defects of the heart operated at Pruthi Hospital, To underscore the fact that successful cardiac surgery could be offered to patients at extremes of age, Mr. Ajaib Singh, a 90 yrs. old patient who had undergone bypass surgery recently at BBC Heart Care, Pruthi Hospital was also present.

Dr. Anil Sood Secretary Indian Academy of Pediatrics, Punjab who was looking after the child before surgery because of the tender age was also present at the press conference.

“Medical Tourism” has fast started picking up in Jalandhar, with a large number of NRIs making a beeline for hospitals here. For them a trip to jalandhar serves a dual purpose-getting treatment for serious ailments at a cost which is roughly one-tenth of that in the West and enjoying their holidays along with their families back home in Punjab.
This trend has become popular during the Past two years. The reason is simple:enormous hike in the cost of treatment in countries like the US, Canada, Holland the UK makes NRIs look back home.
“Many NRI patients come back for treatment as hospitals here have the state-of-the-art medical facilities. “Back Home” factor also gives the NRIs a sense of security. In Fact, these days over 70 percent cases come to India specifically for treatment. The near collapse of the National Health System in the West has made the city a treatment destination,” said Dr Harinder Singh Bedi, Executive Director of the Sigma New Life Heart Institute. He claimed that the heart institute branches at Jalandhar and Ludhiana received nearly 30 NRI patients every month.
Dr. Charanjit Singh Pruthi, Managing Director of the BBC Heart Care Centre, said apart from a large number of NRIs who came to the center for check-up, about 15 NRI patients had undergone bypass and open beating heart surgery at this hospital during the past one and a half years.
Underlining the reason behind the changing scenario, Dr Pruthi said, “Treatment cost is the biggest factor which has forced NRIs to come here for treatment. If in the UK the cost of bypass surgery is about Rs 8.5 Lakh, here it is something between Rs 1.25 lakh and Rs. 1.75 lakh. Indian doctors are being rated very high even abroad and the NRIs are becoming aware of the professional competence of the Indian doctors.”