Heart disease threatens infants

Heart disease threatens infants

TANGERANG, West Java (JP): An expert said that congenital
heart disease is the biggest killer among congenital diseases,
which claim the lives of thousands of children here and
worldwide.

Sukman Tulus Putra, a lecturer at the University of
Indonesia's School of Medicine, said in a seminar here Saturday
that about 40,000 babies are born with congenital heart disease
every year. The figure is calculated on a birth rate of 2.5
percent.

Of the 40,000, 30 percent suffer from critical heart disease
which requires urgent treatment, he said. "It's the number one
killer among congenital diseases," he said.

Congenital heart disease is responsible for 33 percent of
deaths in the first month after birth and 3 to 5 percent of
deaths in the first year of life, he said.

"Only a small number of children with this condition can be
helped because there are only two to three heart centers for
children in the country," he lamented, adding that surgery for
congenital heart condition currently costs Rp 10 million
(US$4,255), far too much for most people.

The seminar was held at the Siloam Gleneagles Hospital and was
attended by more than 250 participants, mostly doctors, including
cardiologists Saw Huat Seong and Wu Dar Ching of the Gleneagles
Medical Center in Singapore.

He named the Indonesian Heart Foundation as an organization
which has financially assisted many congenital heart disease
patients. "But it's still not enough. Many more patients have to
wait for help, while their condition worsens," Sukman said.

Sukman said 99.8 percent of congenital heart disease cases are
begun before the children are four years of age. He also named
the history of pregnancy, such as diseases suffered or
medications taken by the expecting mother, as among factors
contributing to congenital heart disease.

A child is suspected of suffering congenital heart disease if
it stays blue after delivery or if he has difficulties breathing,
he said. (31)