Like Maya and Sir Chief (characters from the telenovela "Be Careful With My Heart"), senior citizens are always careful with their hearts. Proof of this is that class reunion topics range from heart rates, medications, cholesterol levels, and the like. Most of these conditions are brought about by lifestyle choices, and healthy tickers are a result of really smart ones. There are kids, however, who have no choice but to be careful with their hearts from the very start, as they were born with a condition called congenital heart defect (CHD).

Sad stats

The exact causes of CHD are not known, although research points to several risk factors such as genetics, exposure of the pregnant mother to environmental toxins or medications like thalidomide, malnutrition of the mother during pregnancy, and alcohol consumption of the mother during the gestational period.

According to pediatric cardiologist Dr. Jonas Del Rosario, out of 1,000 births, eight babies are diagnosed with CHD. “In the Philippines, which has a birth rate of 2.4%, 20,000 CHD babies are born every year, with 1,600 a month, and 55 every day – of these, two out of eight will be needing an operation in the first year of life.”

He adds that operations and medications to treat this condition are very prohibitive, and there are very few facilities that can accommodate CHD cases. “Patients are on a waitlist for years in government hospitals, and in private institutions that accept charity cases. Out of 5,000 charity cases which need surgery every year, only 500 cases are treated for what is the most common cause of death from a birth defect.”  

He delivers more numbers about the need for tender loving care: “Of these patients, one out of three will need financial assistance, one out of four will die of complications because of non-intervention, and one out of five will become inoperable because of significant delay in treatment.” He cites the case of Danica Santos, who waited for 16 years, before she was able to get surgical attention. “It actually seems like a miracle that she survived into her teen years,” he comments. Danica was diagnosed at seven months old with patent ductus arteriosus, a potentially fatal condition where a blood vessel connecting the pulmonary artery to the aortic arch fails to close.

Helping hearts

Danica was one of the chosen recipients of an outreach program by Dr. Azad Moopen’s Foundation called "Save the Little Hearts." Awareness for the project was raised by a Facebook page, which encourages those who need the treatment to get in touch with the foundation. “Likes” for the social networking page also translate to contributions, as each “like” is equivalent to a donation of 100 pesos for the CHD patients. Within 19 days of its launch, the page has already garnered 7,262 likes, which will definitely go a long way in helping little hearts in need.

Most of the cases will be treated here in the country, but those that are more complicated will be done in India, under the care of specialists and with the latest equipment available. After-care will also be provided for the CHD patients, including checkups and medication.

The benefactor was recently in the country to talk about the program, which aims to provide 50 cardiac surgeries for underprivileged children with CHD. Dr. Azad Moopen of DM Healthcare LLC, says about 20% of Filipinos fill the DM staff lines, and it was his way of giving back to the quality service the Filipino health workers provide.

“More than just raising funds, we want to generate social engagement that will hopefully spark the public’s interest in the issue of congenital heart defects in infants. That’s why we encourage those who ‘like’ our page to also read through the information provided there so they will have an idea of how valuable their contribution the free surgeries are for the kids with CHD,” says Joyce Socao-

Alumno, DM Healthcare foundation Country Representative.