The Healers Journal: Why Access Matters as Much as Treatment

In cardiology, we are taught to think fast.

We are trained to recognize danger early, intervene without delay and act within narrow windows of time where every minute can change an outcome. But over the years, one truth has stayed with me more deeply than any textbook lesson:

For many families, the greatest emergency is not only the disease. It is a struggle to reach treatment in time. Sometimes, the barrier is distance. Sometimes, it is lack of awareness. And very often, it is affordability.

As doctors, we often meet families at the moment their world has already changed. A diagnosis has been made. Fear has entered the room. The future suddenly feels uncertain. And in that moment, what a family needs not just medical advice — they need reassurance, direction and most importantly, a real path forward.

That is where heart care becomes more than medicine. That is where it becomes deeply human.

Working in the Marathwada region in Central Maharashtra, I have had the privilege of caring for patients from cities, towns and villages where resilience is abundant, but access to advanced care is not always easy. I have seen families arrive carrying files, reports, old prescriptions and silent worry. Some have travelled long distances. Some have already spent weeks going from one consultation to another. Some have barely understood the diagnosis before being told that urgent treatment may be needed.

And almost every family, at some point, asks the same question:

“Doctor, can this be treated?”

Most of the time, the answer is yes. But then comes the question that is often much heavier:

“Doctor, how will we manage it?”

That question never becomes routine.

Because when a child has a heart condition, the illness does not belong to the child alone. It settles into the entire household. The mother loses sleep. The father begins silently calculating what can be borrowed, sold or sacrificed. Grandparents sit in prayer. Siblings sense the tension without fully understanding it. A heart condition quickly becomes a family crisis.

And for many families from the Marathwada and similar underserved regions, that crisis is made even harder by the distance between diagnosis and treatment.

In medicine, we often focus on what is possible clinically. But in real life, possibility means very little if a family cannot reach it. A child may have a treatable congenital heart defect (CHD). A baby may need urgent intervention. A young life may have every chance of recovery. And yet, treatment may still be delayed — not because the science is unavailable, but because support is.

That is why the role of organizations like Genesis Foundation is so meaningful. When a child receives support for congenital heart defect treatment, what changes is not only the financial equation. Something much deeper changes.

• Fear becomes manageable
• Helplessness gives way to hope
• A family that had emotionally begun preparing for loss starts believing in recovery

And that shift — that movement from despair to possibility — is one of the most powerful things we witness as doctors mainly countering the children with congenital heart diseases. Because healing does not begin only after a surgery or procedure. Sometimes, healing begins the moment a parent realizes:

“My child now has a chance.” And for a parent, that chance is everything.

Over the years, I have seen what happens when timely treatment reaches a child who truly needs it. A child who once tired easily begins to play. A child who struggled with breathlessness starts running. A family that entered the hospital, frightened and overwhelmed leaves with relief written all over their faces.

Those moments stay with you. Not because they are dramatic, but because they are deeply human. They remind us that healthcare is not only about procedures, machines and outcomes. It is also about dignity. It is about making sure families are not left alone in the hardest chapter of their lives. It is about ensuring that treatment is guided by need — not limited by financial circumstance. And when one child receives that chance, the impact often goes far beyond that one life. It changes an entire family’s future. It changes how a community thinks about illness. It builds trust in treatment. It encourages earlier diagnosis. It helps other parents come forward sooner. In many places, one successful recovery does more for awareness than any campaign ever could.

Hope travels fast when it becomes visible.

This is especially true in pediatric and congenital heart care, where delay can be dangerous, but timely intervention can completely alter the course of a life. As an interventional cardiologist, I have always believed that healthcare should not become a privilege reserved for those who are born in the right city, at the right time, with the right financial background. A child’s heartbeat should not depend on geography or awareness or affordability. It should depend on one thing alone:

Need.

That is why the work of Genesis Foundation deserves not only appreciation, but respect. Because they are not simply funding treatment with the help of their CSR for child health.

They are:

• Protecting childhood
• Preserving families
• Carrying hope into places where fear often arrives first

In today’s world, we rightly celebrate advances in medicine — better imaging, newer interventions, safer procedures, stronger outcomes. But alongside all that progress, there is one question we must keep asking:

Who gets to access it?

Because even the most advanced care means little if it remains out of reach for the child who needs it most. This is why compassion must always walk alongside science. Because medicine may save lives. But humanity is what helps those lives reach us in time. And every time a child receives that chance, we are reminded of something beautifully simple and profoundly true:

So, if you want to support the foundation, you can contribute through CSR in healthcare India, helping ensure that every heartbeat truly matters.

Dr. Mahendrasingh Parihar
Consultant,
Interventional Cardiologist & Congenital
Heart Disease Specialist
Kamalnayan Bajaj Hospital, Aurangabad