Berhampur: In a major healthcare initiative, 44 children from Odisha’s Ganjam district suffering from congenital heart disease (CHD) left for Mumbai to undergo free surgery under the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) scheme.
The children, aged between three months and 15 years, will be provided with treatment at Narayana Health SRCC Children’s Hospital under the central scheme.
Officials said that a team of four doctors accompanied the children and their parents to coordinate the treatment process.
District Manager of RBSK Lopamudra Mishra said that the doctors at the Mumbai hospital will test the children first and schedule the surgeries, considering the condition of each patient. “The hospital’s medical team will conduct additional tests to finalise the surgery schedule for each patient,” she said.
Chief District Medical & Public Health Officer Bhabani Shankar Mishra and senior doctors extended their best wishes to the patients and their families before their departure on Monday.
The children were identified through health screenings conducted by RBSK teams in anganwadi centres, schools, and colleges in villages across the district. Two mobile health teams led the screening efforts at the block level. Initially treated at the City Hospital in Berhampur, the children were referred to SRCC Hospital following doctors’ recommendations for immediate surgery.
Since the implementation of the RBSK scheme in Ganjam district in 2016, a total of 668 children with CHD have received free life-saving surgeries. This group represents the first batch sent for treatment in 2025.
