Reaching Children in Areas with No Access to Pediatric Cardiac Care: Stories from the Ramanthapuram Screening Camp

Having worked for a child heart foundation for over a decade I have had the chance to meet many children and their families but had never attended a screening camp. I got the opportunity to attend my first screening camp last year in Srinagar and a few months ago another one at Ramanathapuram.

In 2018, we started conducting screening camps with the intent to expand our footprints and reach children in underserved areas where access to pediatric cardiac care does not exist.

We screened 250+ children at the camp in Ramanathapuram

Both camps I attended were mega camps with hundreds of children showing up for screening. The Ramanathapuram camp was an eye opener for me in many ways. According to Tamil Nadu’s State Planning Commission, 31.27% of families in Ramanathapuram live below the poverty line as of 2013-14. In addition, the 2011 Census of India reported that 18.4% of the district’s 1.35 million people are Scheduled Caste. Against this backdrop, diagnosing a child with a congenital heart defect becomes difficult.

Many of these families living here do not have access to specialised medical care such as congenital heart defect treatment for children. When I reached the school, AMRITA Vidyalayam, where the camp was conducted it was a quite morning. We met the medical team from AMRITA Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center, Kochi as we were conducting the camp with them. The hospital has been playing a leading role in carrying out path breaking interventions to treat children with congenital heart defects.  The doctors, school authorities and our team did a quick check to ensure that we ready to meet the children and their families.

As the day unfolded, children started coming in. Since the numbers were lesser at that time, I had time to interact with the families. Though language was a barrier, interacting with the children was easy. The smiles we got when we gave the balloons or a pat on their back and the look of hope and gratitude in the eye of the parents was enough for us to form an instant bond – a bond that came together with a single mission – to give their children a chance at life.

As the day unfolded, the few numbers changed to hundreds of children. We screened 250+ children at the camp. The crowds were massive, and we were all hands on to ensure that every family that had come got the information and support they needed. A large part of me felt a level of satisfaction I had not known before- satisfaction to see and know that we had reached an area without any pediatric medical help. Without this intervention most of these children would have not gotten diagnosed or got diagnosed too late. The other part of me felt gratitude for all that I have been blessed with. Watching so many families bring their children in groups for a screening highlighted the sheer need of an intervention.

I met a grandmother who had brought both her daughters and grandchildren from both her girls to screen them for a heart defect. Like this there were many families who had come in groups bringing all the children for a diagnosis. There were families who knew that their child had a defect in their heart but had no clue on what they needed to do to give their child a chance at life. Hearing that a child heart foundation and AMRITA hospital were coming to their doorstep motivated them to come for the camp to seek medical help for their kids.

Despite the heat, the crowd and the running around that comes with organising such a large camp I reached the hotel tiered in my body. But my heart was full, full of gratitude that we reached so many children who would have otherwise not got the help they needed. My heart was satisfied with the work that I was doing as part of a child heart foundation in India to Save Little Hearts. I slept that night with a prayer for the families that we had met – a payer to heal all their children in need of an intervention.

To read more about the details of the screening camp visit:

https://www.genesis-foundation.net/screening-camps-details/ramanathapuram-screening-camp