About 200 babies born every year in Fiji have congenital heart disease - Doctor Tappoo

About 200 babies born every year in Fiji have congenital heart disease which is 60 times more prevalent than childhood cancer.

Sai Sanjeevani Children’s Heart Hospital Director, Doctor Krupali Tappoo says 50% of children with congenital heart disease will require surgical intervention and they have successfully provided free heart surgery to 73 children since 2016.

Doctor Tappoo says they have completed a week-long awareness campaign highlighting the impact of congenital heart disease and the important role of early diagnosis and treatment in the form of surgical intervention.

She adds they have done free heart screening for over 1,800 children with over 120 children diagnosed with congenital heart disease.

This is 5% of all children screened.

Symptoms include shortness of breath, fast breathing, fast heart rate, bluish tinge of the lips, nails and fingers, failure to gain weight, sweating during feeding, swelling of the eyes, abdomen, legs.

Children could have recurrent chest infections and repeated admissions to hospital.

Doctor Tappoo says due to the COVID-19 pandemic and border closures, visiting teams from overseas have not been able to come to Fiji to provide surgery and there are over 50 children currently awaiting surgery.

She adds the Sanjeevani Children’s Heart Hospital is nearing completion and currently work is continuing with the medical gas installation by Biomedical Engineers from New Zealand and the US.

They hope to open the hospital in the coming months.

She says the Sai Prema Foundation is working on building local capacity through its partnership with the Sai Sanjeevani hospitals in India so that there will be a team of doctors, nurses and medical professionals trained in all aspects of children’s heart surgery.

The Sai Sanjeevani hospitals in India will help provide free training for the local doctors.