MANIPAL HOSPITAL AND ROTARY INTERNATIONAL TO PROVIDE A NEW LIFE FOR 40 NEEDY CHILDREN

In one of the biggest ever Community and Matching Grant Projects, Manipal Hospital Bangalore and Rotary International (RI) have come together to facilitate the heart surgery of 40 underprivileged children suffering from Congenital Heart Disease (CHD). So far the hospital has already conducted 16 operations successfully.

Through this noble venture, children whose parents would have been hard pressed to seek medical attention on their own now have wide smiles on their faces as their children get back to a normal life. Among the 17 children are Mithun, (7) from Mangalore who was constantly racked by weakness and fever. He came to know of the scheme that helped children like him through a local Rotary representative. Today, he is a happy kid who has started playing his favorite game, cricket.

The parents of Jaipratap (2), from Salem, were worried that their son was always sick. “He was always having cold and fever, little did we know that he had a problem with his hear,” said his father Jaikumar. He is now back at home, looking forward to a fulfilling life. Mohammed Shahid (5) came to know of his heart condition from a check up done at school. Now after his operation he is eager to get back to playing marbles with his friends.

In another case Manjesh (10), son of farm laborers from Shimoga came to know about his ailment 5 years ago and went through myriad hospitals to no avail. Says his mother, Nagamma, “God has gifted him back to us through Manipal Hospital.”

Hemant (10) from Mandya was born with a hole in his heart and remained perennially weak, turning breathless and blue constantly, his parents Manjesh and Shobha had little to look forward to. Doctors recommended surgery but that was beyond their means. Help finally came in the form Manipal Hospital and RI. Shantakumar, also from Mandya, suffered from a heart disease that left him tired very quickly, affecting his normal life, more importantly his studies. After his surgery, he is back home leading a normal healthy life.

Announcing the successful completion of the surgery on the 17 children, Manipal Hospital & Rotary International briefed the media on the various ailments that these children suffered from and how the surgeries would now infuse new life and change their destiny forever. “It gives us untold joy to see these children back on their feet, and we are happy that a total of 40 children will benefit from the Matching Grant Project,” said Mr. OP Khanna, who spearheaded the project.

“More than 1,50,000 children are born with congenital heart disease, every year in India. The sad state of affairs is that only about 5,000 manage to get treated mostly with sponsorships and government aid. There are a large number of children with serious heart diseases in India who can be given a new lease of life with timely heart surgery,” said Dr. Prasad Krishnan, of Cardiothoracic & Vascular Surgery at Manipal Hospital. Dr. Krishnan, along with paediatric cardiologists – Dr. Sreekanth Raghavan and Dr. Ravi Narayan – treated the patients. “We are happy that the Paediatric Cardiology team has been able to bring smiles back to the faces of the children and their parents,” said Dr. Krishnan.

Mr. Rajendra Rai, Rotary Governor District 3190 informed the gathering, “India is now in the middle of a CHD epidemic with over 10% of urban Indians having CHD. About 50% of all heart attacks among Asian Indian men occur under the age of 55 and 25% under the age of 40, unheard of in any other population,”

Thanks to the efforts of RI and Manipal Hospital, and the medical talents of the Paediatric Cardiac team of doctors, these 40 children will now have a new lease of life.

RECORD NUMBER OF STUDENTS FROM BASE MAKE IT TO IIT

Bangalore: BASE, the premier educational training organization providing quality training for IIT-JEE, AIEEE, AIPMT, CET and COMEDK has reported that a record number of 62 students have excelled in the IIT entrance exams. More than 50% of the students who qualified from Karnataka are from the classroom program at BASE. The institute has 42 in top 100 AIEEE state ranks, and 3 of them in the top 10. Recently the Institution felicitated the top achievers

 

Padamshree Dr. K.N. Shankara, Former Director, ISRO Satellite Centre gave away the mementoes to the students and advised them to “carve a niche and decide upon a blueprint in life and work towards it to achieve.”

 

Prof. Rangarajan, Former Chairman, Dept. of Mathematics, IISc opined, “Getting into IITs is only a stepping stone. Students should stick to core disciplines, without deviating into marketing, finance, or other areas. Core technology in basic sciences is important and that research is vital for the progress of the world. Show commitment to build the nation and leave a lasting impression on this world”.

 

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Vallish, Head Projects, BASE, said that, “We are happy that this year we have sent 62 students into IIT – highest number in Karnataka: 42 of our students are in top 100 AIEEE state ranks, 3 in top 10. We are also adding more programmes this year onwards which will benefit, reach and build strong base in the children”.

 

About BASE

 

Established in 1991, BASE is a premier educational services company with training centres in Bangalore and Mysore. Started by a prominent team of academics, BASE’s mission is to mould meritorious students into true winners. Apart from providing training services, BASE also offers academic support to a large number of institutions across Karnataka.

CENTUM ELECTRONICS SUPPORTS AKSHAYA PATRA

Centum Electronics Limited, leading designer and manufacturer of hi-tech electronic subsystems, modules and components, has pledged support to Akshaya Patra, the world’s largest school meal program which currently feeds over 8.05 lakh children across the country every day.  Under this pledge, the company will sponsor the mid-day meals for 1,447 kids in seven government schools, for the next three years. The total cost for this noble deed will be Rs 17.5 lakh every year and the cumulative expenditure will be Rs 52 lakh

 

The public-private enterprise of Akshaya Patra which runs this mammoth school meal program is aided by central and state governments and private corporations. Commenting on the addition of one of major corporate sponsor to its growing list of stakeholders, Shri Madhu Pandita Das said, “To continue to feed the 8.5 lakh children everyday and also to reach its goal of feeding over a million children everyday by 2010, the foundation is very much dependent upon corporate participation in a big way. We are very grateful to Centum Electronics and to Mr.  Apparao Maliavarapu, founder and managing director of Centum Electronics, for having been magnanimous in lending a hand to our efforts,”

 

“We are happy to support Akshaya Patra which is doing noble work for the welfare of the state and the people. Ours is a small gesture which we hope will prompt many others to do the same. It is important for India to fight illiteracy and hunger as we cannot call ourselves developed unless we can feed and educate all our children,” said Mr Apparao Maliavarapu, who is himself hold a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Dal Tech University in Canada was also a Ford Foundation scholar.  He has played a instrumental role in taking his company to the forefront and is today recognised as a leading authority in the industry.

 

Featured in the 500 most valuable companies in India recently, Centum Electronics Limited Centum is one of the largest manufacturers and exporters of electronics products. The organisation is a vertically integrated company with capabilities in design, engineering and manufacturing.  The company designs and manufactures products for telecommunications, automotive, industrial and defense and aerospace markets.  Centum has received many quality and export awards from major industry bodies and the state and central governments.

Successful transplant of liver donated by a mother to her child

In an exemplary first, the Manipal Hospital has conducted a successful liver transplant on a child using a healthy part of the liver of her mother. The surgery places the hospital in the league of a few healthcare setups within the country offering this super specialization service.

The most significant aspect of this achievement was that the procedure was done by an in-house team of well qualified transplant surgeons.

Shveta Gore, an architect by profession gave up her job without any regret before her daughter Prachi was born. She wanted to be full time mother devoted to Prachi’s upbringing. She never knew that one day she would have to fight great odds to save her baby’s life.

The child was diagnosed with Alagille Syndrome with chronic liver disease three days after she was born and that was the beginning of a long battle against the disease. Through the course of next three and a half years, Prachi had terrible itching (Intractable Pruritus), which would keep her awake throughout the day and night, and suffered liver failure and significant growth retardation.

When Shveta and her husband Deodatta, an engineer in a reputed organization in Bangalore, brought Prachi to Manipal Hospital, liver transplant was the only option left for her. The doctors would have to replace the damaged liver of Prachi with a healthy part of liver donated by one of her parents. It was a very challenging procedure and Shveta knew that she was the right person to donate a part of her liver for her daughter. “My husband has the responsibility of looking after the entire family and he could not have been put at risk,” said Shveta, who did not hesitate even for a second to take the decision.

During the transplant a part of the healthy liver of the mother was surgically separated and transplanted into the child after removing her diseased liver. The age of the child and the small blood vessels made this a particularly challenging surgical intervention. The team of surgeons along with intensivists and support from plastic surgery, paediatric surgery and anesthesiology, joined the small blood vessel supplying blood to the liver using a microscope to ensure a surgical success.

Post surgery, the transplanted part of the mother’s liver in Prachi is functioning perfectly as was evidenced by the disappearance of symptoms like itching and her liver function tests have shown positive results.

The team of doctors who oversaw this surgery included, Dr. Sadiq Sikora, Dr.Ramcharan T, Dr Srikanth, and Dr TLVD Prasad Babu, of the Department of Surgical Gastroenterology at the Manipal Hospital Bangalore.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Sikora, Chief Surgical Gastroenterology, said, “Over 200,000 people in India die of liver related diseases every year. We have been fortunate to have the state-of-the-art facilities and well trained clinical team with us. Hence we can now offer hope to these patients and help in saving lives.” Dr Ramcharan, transplant surgeon who joined Manipal from New Orleans, United States, said, “The surgery was a great challenge that was overcome by Prachi’s will power and the family’s conviction. We hope more such people come forward for saving the lives of their near and dear ones.”

Congratulating the team on the successful surgery Dr. Nagendra Swamy, Group Medical Director, said, “We will now aim to make Manipal Hospital a benchmark in all liver related ailment treatments in India.”

Today, Shveta is a cautious but hopeful mother, who was not scared to go to any limits to save her daughter. And her efforts have worked. Prachi’s itching has stopped, her appetite has increased. Both the parents are looking forward to a healthy future of their daughter. For images

New lease of life for a blue baby with “brittle bone disease”

Bangalore: When Rukhsat was born three years ago in a remote village in Orissa, she seemed like a princess to her parents. What her parents Kabir Khan and Dulari Begam did not know was that their beautiful baby was suffering from a rare combination of two serious diseases.

Rukhsat had severe Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), a congenital heart defect and Brittle Bone Disease (Osteogenesis Imperfecta in medical parlance). Rukhsat suddenly used to become blue, had difficulty breathing, and was extremely irritable and even faint at times. She would also tire easily and pant while moving.

In addition to her heart problem, Rukhsat also had a genetic bone disorder due to which all her bones were extremely weak and fragile. The genetic defect resulted in the weakening of collagen, a basic building block of tissues in the body.

Moreover, due to her bone disorder, Rukhsat got fractures all over her body very often. Some of her bones would break even when her mother Dulari picked up her child lovingly. As a child, she had no way to express her agony except to cry.

Her parents were clueless as to why Rukhsat was crying so much even though she wasn’t hungry or when there was no apparent discomfort. Initially the doctors in their village were also perplexed. Then, they diagnosed fractures on her tiny hands and legs even though she never had any kind of fall.

In the course of next two years, she had several spontaneous fractures and most of the time, she would be encased in a plaster. Her family were at times scared even to pick up a crying Rukhsat lest she suffered a fracture.

The combination of the heart defect and bone disorder had depleted Rukhsat’s health completely and something needed to be done soon.

But her parents never gave up hope even though they came from economically weaker background and depended solely on Kabir’s wages from a job at a canteen in Bangalore for their livelihood.

When Khan and Dulari brought Rukhsat to the Consultant Paediatric Cardiologist Dr. Ravi Narayan at Manipal Hospital, he found her case really challenging. “The child was suffering from Blue Baby Syndrome (Tetralogy of Fallot), in addition to the Brittle Bone Disease. Due to a hole in her heart and narrowing of a blood vessel (Pulmonary Artery), deoxygenated blood would flow into the Aorta, making the baby turn blue,” said Dr. Narayan.

After a detailed review with Dr. Prasad Krishnan, HoD of Cardiothoracic & Vascular Surgery, it was decided that the baby would need to undergo an operation to save her life. According to the doctor, the review of literature showed only one other such case, but no heart surgery for TOF was performed in a child with Brittle Bone Disease.

The surgical team led by Dr. Krishnan decided to perform the heart surgery despite her associated Brittle Bone Disease as the effects of the heart disease were life threatening. This involved splitting the breastbone to get to the heart and operating inside the heart with fragile tissues due to the associated genetic disorder and finally putting it all back together. All this was successfully accomplished.

“The child was unable to get oxygen for a living due to her heart disease and was dangerously blue. We had to perform the heart surgery despite her associated brittle bone disease, which made it a very rare case,” said Dr. Krishnan.

The three years in Rukhsat’s life were a constant fight between life and death. But she had shown amazing tenacity for survival.

With her heart problem corrected, her parents and doctors hope that Rukshat will continue to win against all odds.

Wipro launches Fit for Life initiative for its employees

Wipro Limited launched Fit for Life, a comprehensive well-being program for its employees today. The objective of the program is to evaluate and improve well-being, both physical and mental, quotient of employees as well as integrate all current well-being initiatives under one umbrella to strengthen it further.

 

Commenting on the initiative, Girish Paranjpe, Joint CEO and Executive Director, Wipro Limited said, “Employee well being is of paramount importance to us. Fit for Life is yet another initiative in this direction. Companies need to have such initiatives as they will become hygiene factors in choice of employers in the future.”

 

 

Dr.Thimappa Hegde, a senior Consultant Neurosurgeon and Director, Narayana Hrudayalaya Institute of Neurosciences was the guest speaker at the launch of the event. Dr Hedge who has over 30 scientific publications and a book on Neurosciences spoke on his experience in making fitness in daily life simple. The launch event also had Sheela Krishnaswamy a renowned expert in Diet and Nutrition, Kishen Whabi, a Performance Enhancement and Corrective Exercise Specialist from PeakFitness along with Wipro’s Yoga and Aerobics instructor advising Wipro employees on Health.

 

Some of the initiatives to be rolled out in the coming weeks are onsite health check camps across locations, promotion of healthy habits, anti smoking awareness campaign, stress management camps, meditation and yoga, various awareness campaigns on asthma & allergy, skin care, headache disorder, alcohol and many more.

 

A study by PwC on well being across 32 companies globally states well being programs adopted by companies make them a more attractive place for people to work and improves employee engagement levels with the organization apart from the primary benefit of increasing well being levels among employees.