This Feb 14, which incidentally Congenial Heart Defect Disease Awareness Day, Asian Heart Institute opened GUCH Clinic, which will cater to children above 16 years of age with congenital heart disease (CHD) who have undergone surgical intervention in the past and those who have not, the hospital said.

Speaking on the occasion Dr Ramakanta Panda, Cardiovascular Thoracic Surgeon and Vice Chairman, Asian Heart Institute said “The number of grown-ups with congenital heart diseases is steadily increasing. Some of these children who have reached adult life need constant follow-ups and special care in a conducive environment to tide over the health issues that arise due to CHD. With this special outpatient service, we intend to cater to this patient population coming to us from across India.

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is a group of gross structural abnormalities that are present at birth. Congenital malformations of the heart and circulation are not fixed anatomic defects that appear at birth but instead are anomalies in flux that originate in the early embryo, evolve during gestation, survive the dramatic circulatory alterations at birth, and change considerably during extrauterine life.Considering a birth prevalence of congenital heart disease as 9/1000, the estimated number of children born with congenital heart disease in India is more than 200,000 per year. Of these, about one-fifth are likely to have serious defect, requiring an intervention in the first year of life.