Madras, Jan. 30: A heart-valve bank is to be set up in the Railway Hospital at Perambur, the first of its kind in the Indian Railways.
Dr. T.J. Cherian, Superintendent of the Hospital, said it was proposed to start the bank with one set of artificial valves made out of plastics and metal.
A team of four surgeons, three physicians, two radiologists, two anaesthetists and 20 qualified nurses had been built up at the hospital over a 12-year-period to undertake operations involving replacement of diseased valves. A surgeon had been deputed in New Zealand for intensive training in this type of surgery.
Out of 12,000 admissions yearly in the hospital, 200 cases of defective valves, mostly among children of railwaymen, were being treated. Defective valves, he said, were mostly due to rheumatic diseases and could be replaced with artificial valves through simple surgery.
Dr. Cherian explained that one set of valves included four valves of 18 different sizes available now only in the U.S. The imported cost of one set was Rs. 48,000. Valves bought individually cost Rs. 3,000 each. With spares of different sizes, the total cost per set would come to Rs. 75,000.
Published – January 31, 2025 03:33 am IST