Mahesh Babu joins hands with Hyderabad hospital to help children with congenital heart diseases

To help economically-challenged children living with congenital heart diseases (CHD), actor Mahesh Babu, along with the Rainbow Children’s Heart Institute (RCHI), launched the Pure Little Hearts Foundation (PLHF) in Hyderabad earlier this month, which will look into children’s cardiac care.
🗞️Subscribe Now: Get Express Premium to access the best Election reporting and analysis 🗞️
According to a press release, CHD accounts for 10 out of every 1,000 births in the country; more than 2,00,000 children are born every year with it. In fact, approximately one-fifth of these infants are likely to have a serious birth defect, requiring intervention within the first year.

The actor, who has been associated with causes that help sick children, committed to supporting kids at RCHI through the Mahesh Babu Foundation. “Children have always been close to my heart. I am happy to support children who need cardiac care at RCHI,” he said, adding that he would be helping 125 children who will need a cardiac surgery.
“Cardiac procedures in children is primarily a one-time effort, it helps the child lead a productive life and helps the country prosper. But, young parents struggle to arrange funds for the treatment. As doctors, we feel these children could easily be cured with a little financial help. PLHF is the result of a solution finding exercise to this problem,” Dr Chinnaswamy Reddy, chairman, PLHF, said.

Dr Nageswara Rao Koneti, chief cardiolog, director at RCHI, said on the occasion that CHD is the most common congenital defect affecting children. “At RCHI we have performed nearly 900 cardiac surgeries and over 850 cardiac procedures in the last 2 years, many of them were performed on children less than one-year-old and critically ill… As a clinician, I often felt a need that if there is a foundation to ass, we will be able to support and treat more infants and children.”
Dr Reddy added that time is of the essence when treating children with cardiac defects. “Timely diagnosis, procedure planning, intervention and follow-up are required to ensure that the child is cured of this disease for the rest of [their] life.”
Dr Ramesh Kancharla, chairman and managing director at RCH said, “It has been my passion to provide cardiac treatment for children because it is like a one-time fix. These children, once treated, are like any normal person and contribute positively to the growth of the country.”
📣 For more lifestyle news, follow us on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook and don’t miss out on the latest updates!