Paediatric heart surgeries costing up to ₹20 lakh each at private hospitals performed free at NIMS Hyderabad

At Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) in Hyderabad, complex pediatric heart surgeries that could otherwise cost families between ₹5 lakh and ₹20 lakh each were provided free of charge during a week-long camp. NIMS performed 19 surgeries on children aged between two months and 13 years, under the collaboration between the NIMS Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and the non-profit organization Healing Little Hearts.

The chief of the NIMS team was M. Amaresh Rao, Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery, while the UK-based pediatric cardiac surgeon Ramana Dhanapuneni led the specialist team. Apart from the surgeries, around 1,000 children were screened, with a few requiring minimal invasive intervention instead of open-heart surgery. The NIMS team prioritized complex congenital heart cases for the camp.

Dr. Ramana emphasized that many families find the cost of paediatric cardiac surgery in private hospitals prohibitive, ranging from ₹5 lakh to ₹20 lakh. Dr. Amaresh added that there are approximately 7,000 children in Telangana with critical congenital heart diseases, and NIMS performs around 400 paediatric cardiac surgeries annually.

The collaboration between the UK-based specialists and NIMS has resulted in about 80 surgeries so far and aims for twice-a-year visits. The camp also introduced ECMO services at NIMS for the first time under the Aarogyasri scheme, although no patient needed it during this camp.