Healing Little Hearts: Rotary’s Compassion in Action
Transforming Pediatric Cardiac Care at SRCC Children’s Hospital
Written by Dr Supratim Sen with Rtn Dr Vidya Mukund, RCBN
Every year in India, more than 2.5 lakh children are born with congenital heart disease (CHD)—a diagnosis that arrives quietly but carries overwhelming consequences for families already struggling with limited resources. For nearly one-fifth of these children, the defect is critical and life-threatening, demanding urgent intervention within the first year of life. Without timely treatment, many of these little hearts simply give up.
Despite medical advancements, only a fraction of children with CHD in India receive timely and appropriate care. Specialized pediatric cardiac centers are few, largely private, and concentrated in metropolitan cities. For families in rural, tribal, or economically vulnerable regions, the journey to treatment is often as daunting as the disease itself—filled with fear, financial uncertainty, lost livelihoods, and impossible choices.
It is within this challenging landscape that many Rotary Clubs at Mumbai have chosen to step in—not merely as donors, but as compassionate partners in saving young lives.
The Reality on the Ground: Challenges Beyond Medicine
The burden of pediatric heart disease in India is not limited to medical complexity alone.
Delayed diagnosis remains common due to lack of awareness and limited screening, especially in rural and semi-urban areas.
Geographical inequity forces families to travel hundreds of kilometers, often leaving behind jobs, homes, and other children to seek treatment for their child’s heart disease.
Financial hardship is the single greatest barrier. Medical insurance for congenital defects is rare, and even government schemes cover only a limited range of surgeries.
Social challenges—including discouragement from elders, gender bias, and fear of surgery—often prevent families from seeking timely care.
Many children deteriorate while waiting. Some become inoperable. Some are lost forever.
SRCC Children’s Hospital: Where Hope Meets Expertise
At NH SRCC Children’s Hospital, children receive world-class, fully pediatric cardiac care—often when all other doors have closed.
SRCC performs 80 pediatric heart surgeries and 50 cardiac interventions per month, including highly complex and high-risk cases.
The hospital accepts referrals from other major centers and often takes on patients who have developed complications after surgery elsewhere.
With less than 3% mortality, even among critically ill newborns weighing under 2 kg, SRCC stands among the finest pediatric cardiac centers in the country.
The average minimum cost to save a child is approximately ₹150,000-200,000, with the burden shared by government schemes, hospital concessions, and charitable support by Rotary and other organisations.
A dedicated patient dormitory houses up to 200 families, ensuring that no parent is left without shelter during their child’s treatment.
Yet even with excellence in care, the ability to treat these children depends heavily on timely financial support.
Rotary’s Impact: Turning Compassion into Lives Saved
Because of Rotary’s support, SRCC has been able to accept critically ill children who were otherwise turned away due to lack of funding or complexity beyond standard government coverage. These are children who could not afford to wait.
Beyond Surgery: The True Impact on Lives
For a child struggling with CHD, life before surgery is often filled with breathlessness, repeated hospitalizations, poor growth, and delayed development. For parents, it is a period marked by helplessness, fear, and endless waiting.
But timely cardiac intervention changes everything.
Within days, oxygen levels normalize. Within months, the child begins to grow, play, learn, and thrive like any other child. Developmental milestones are regained. Parents return to work. Families heal.
And when these children walk back into the hospital for follow-up visits—healthy, playful, smiling—the relief and gratitude on their parents’ faces tell a story no statistic ever can.
Rotary’s True Legacy: Transforming Futures
Pediatric cardiac care is uniquely rewarding—not only for doctors and nurses who witness miraculous recoveries, but also for donors who make those recoveries possible. Rotary’s contribution extends far beyond funding a surgery. It restores dignity to families, hope to parents, and a future to children.
By supporting pediatric cardiac care, Rotary is not just saving lives—it is reshaping society, one healed heart at a time.
This is Rotary’s compassion in action.
This is service that truly matters.
Book at NH SRCC Children’s Hospital or via the link, the NH Care App
or email me on supratim@drsupratimsen.com for guidance on how to set up a pediatric cardiac video consult.
Dr. Supratim Sen | Senior Consultant Interventional Pediatric Cardiologist | NH SRCC Children’s Hospital, Mumbai.
Clinic: NH SRCC Children’s Hospital. 1, 1A Haji Ali Park. K Khadye Marg. Mahalakshmi. Mumbai- 400034