Medtronic India’s Healthy Heart for All (HHFA) programme that has provided 200 loans to patients to undergo cardiac surgery is now looking to expand the number of hospitals to offer this service in the country.

The India centric programme which commenced in 2010, was devised to cater to patients primarily because of the poor health insurance programme in place in India. Under the easy financing options for heart devices implants, HHFA offers payment through easy instalments starting from as little as Rs.1,000 per month.

The first implant under HHFA was done in September 2010 at The Mission Hospital, Durgapur, West Bengal. It is currently, available in over 70 hospitals across 22 cities covering Delhi, Kolkata, Ranchi, Durgapur, Coimbatore, Salem, Tirunalveli, Kozhikode, Palakkad, Kochi, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmednagar, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Mysore and Mangalore.

Going hand in hand with the monetary support is objective to increase awareness and diagnosis of heart diseases by providing high quality, affordable cardiac diagnosis and treatment to patients in need. The loan is made available within 24 hours. With as many as three million fatal cases of cardiovascular diseases every year, India is set to be the 'heart disease capital of the world' soon. It is estimated that by 2020, cardiovascular disease will be the cause of over 40 per cent deaths in India.

“With HHFA patients get access to life saving cardiac treatment. Barriers like low awareness, inadequate diagnosis, and affordability constraints are the key reasons for a large number of cardiac patients not being able to get the right treatment in time. The results are very gratifying, especially when we see people move from a state of hopelessness to getting the appropriate treatment and living longer and better lives,” said Milind Shah, vice president, South Asia and managing director India Medtronic.

The key highlights of HHFA loan are that it is zero interest scheme with easy pay back option within six months. There is also a long term EMI facility also available and the loan disbursement within three to 24 hours. Further, there is no need for asset mortgage or foreclosure charges.

"Despite the latest advances in life saving devices and treatment, the affordability factor is a big issue and HHFA has now helped to decrease the financial burden in situations where patients need time to arrange for the treatment cost, said interventional cardiologists and cardiac specialists from leading medical centres including Medanta Heart Institute, Gurgaon, Dr L H Hiranandani Hospital, Medical Hospital, Kolkata and Sagar Hospitals, Bengaluru.