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)