JOIN USCheck-up finds 73 government schoolchildren in Bengaluru have cardiac issues
At least 73 children at government schools in Bengaluru have been diagnosed with heart ailments during a check-up by a nonprofit, raising concerns over cardiac health among kids.
Careworks Foundation (CWF), the nonprofit arm of business services provider Quess Corp, did a health check-up at 75 government schools and anganwadis in JP Nagar, Marathahalli, HAL Road and Bannerghatta Road recently, covering 11,276 children in the age group of 3-16 years.
The 73 children diagnosed with cardiac-related issues have been referred to the Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences & Research for further examination and treatment.
“We are taking 15 kids in the first batch to Jayadeva,” Smitha Srinivas, Head CSR at CWF, said.
The CWF health check-up is being done at schools since 2014.
“Earlier, we saw dental, vision and anaemia problems in children. This is the first time we are seeing so many children having cardiac issues,” a doctor associated with CWF said.
“A majority of these kids were complaining of chest pain, difficulty in walking and breathlessness. Though we recorded it as ‘heart murmuring’ based on our examination, further examination is recommended for clarity and treatment,” the doctor added.
According to Smitha, most of the kids come from slums and belong to families of construction workers.
“In the preliminary screenings, heart murmur has been identified, suggesting that there could be a defect in the heart,” Jayadeva Institute director Dr C N Manjunath told DH.
“We will be doing echo cardiogram for all these children and if it is confirmed, then we will start further treatment accordingly,” he added.
Manjunath advised parents not to ignore symptoms like recurrent fever, cough, bluish discoloration in the body and so on.