Under the National Health Rural Mission (NRHM) for children in government and aided schools, Karnataka's cardiac care majors M S Ramaiah Hospital and Narayana Hrudayalaya Heart Center (MSRNH) have teamed up to offer treatment to 20 paediatric cases under the Suvarna Arogya Chaitanya scheme.

The programme which was held at Udupi district in Karnataka saw 67 children were being screened, of which 20 have been diagnosed of congenital heart disease. They will receive free treatment at the centre through the Suvarna Arogya Chaitanya scheme.

"The screening camps organized across the districts in Karnataka have revealed startling number of children that suffer from heart diseases. The parents of these children have chosen to ignore this due to financial crunch. This is where corporate hospitals have taken on the onus to implement the Suvarna Arogya Chaitanya scheme," said Dr Vijay Singh, medical superintendent, MSRNH.

The partnership between M S Ramaiah and Narayana Hrudayalaya has seen a rise in the number of heart patients coming forward for treatment. This number has increased from five to 30 patients in a month. Most of these are paediatric cases and a sizeable number come through the Suvarna Arogya Chaitanya scheme.

M S Ramaiah and Narayana Hrudayalaya has already screened more than 800 school children that fall under the scheme through the screening camps organized by the hospital in the districts of Belgaum, Hassan, Tumkur, Chitradurga and Kolar

About 100 children under the scheme have undergone heart surgeries in last four months at M S Ramaiah Narayana Hrudayalaya and are now leading a healthy and normal life. The children enrolled in this scheme can also avail treatment at the hospital at subsidized rates.